Appeared in the Hans India on good Stoves and biochar initiatives

1. HYDERABAD HANS Lifestyle Art & Culture WEDNESDAY 14 September 2011 Guide Celebrations
As part of awareness programme,
a stove displayed in Tamil Nadu.
Mitigating drudgery
in deprived homes Dr Sai Bhaskar Reddy Nakka
C ooking indoors is a major cause
of concern the world over. Indoor
smoke kills more than 40,000 peo-
A lot is cooking across the world when it comes to patenting new
Patencheru, one of Asia’s most pol-
luted industrial areas. His report on
the Patencheru lake had helped en-
ple, mostly women and children, products and replicating it for mass consumption, with the bottom vironmentalists in securing land-
every year in the country. line being profits and more profits. But, here is a scientist from the mark judgments in Andhra Pradesh.
According to a 2007 World Health After his graduation from the
Organisation report, indoor air pol- city who wants to eliminate drudgery from kitchens in deprived Saifabad PG College, Sai Bhaskar
lution levels in some kitchens in homes by popularising affordable, safe, and environment-friendly Reddy did double masters in Applied
rural India were some 20 times Geology and Geography from the In-
Wood-saving Magh I portable stove. higher than permissible levels, with stoves. The Hans India’s correspondent Venu K Kodimela dian Institute of Technology (IIT)
the situation being bad even in the meets the scientist to see what’s cooking in his lab. Powai. For his Ph D, he pursued
national capital. Globally, more “Environmental Impact Assessment
than 1.6 million people die prema- Studies of the Polluted Water at
turely due to indoor air pollution Cheruvu in Ramanthapur where he Patancheru Industrial Area, Medak
caused by burning of biomass – grew up. “As child, I enjoyed life on District”. He was instrumental in
wood, dung, roots, straw, apart from the edge of the lake. But, over years moving Public Interest Litigation
coal in households. I saw how the lake was turned into petitions against pollution in the
With the aim of developing low cost a housing colony,” says Dr Reddy. It city, along with environmentalist
and fuel efficient stoves, Hyderabad- probably influenced him to work at (Continued P-II)
based scientist Dr Sai Bhaskar
Reddy Nakka converted his home at
Ramanthapur into a lab seven years
ago. He got down to brass tacks with
a hammer and some tools to make
A brick stove developed for Ekalavya
stoves out of scraps and mother
Institution.
earth. After plumbing the depths of
the relationship between fire and
other elements, he zeroed in on
workable models using, among other
things, mud, cement bricks, tin, tin
boxes and cement flowerpots.
Dr Sai Bhaskar Reddy built Good
Stoves Museum, the first of its kind,
at Peddamaduru village in Devarup-
pala mandal of Warangal district
two years ago. He then purchased Dr Reddy interacting with the visitors at his Good Stoves Museum.
half an acre of land, after one of his
friends donated money to put his Energy Organisation (GEO) to prop- tions, governments, support organi-
ideas into practice. agate Good Stoves and carry on his sations, companies, industries and
Today, Good Stoves, apart from re- experiments with biochar. He has philanthropists.
moving drudgery in the kitchen,is launched a ‘One million good stoves Dr Reddy, who doesn’t believe in
the byword for increasing fuel effi- mission’ to facilitate the distribution patenting his inventions, is an ar-
ciency of biomass, cutting costs on of 1 million good stoves to the needy dent campaigner for Open Knowl-
Magh Twister Stove is inspired by wind- fuel, reducing indoor pollution, and communities within the next five edge for common good.
power of cyclones. taking the pressure off forests. years. GEO proposes to do this by He draws inspiration from nature,
Dr Reddy also founded Geoecology associating with community, institu- beginning with the bank of Chinna A homemaker testing Dr Reddy stove in Uttarakand.
Atreya
remembered
A c h a r y a
Atreya, who
touched the
hearts with his
splendid lyrics
for over three-
and-a-half
decades, was re-
membered on
his 22nd death
anniversary on
Tuesday.
Fondly called Poet of Heart- Manasu
kavi- Atreya’s contribution to Telugu
cinema is immense, said S V Rama-
rao, film critic.
Writing lyrics with limited words
and giving a wider meaning was his
style, he averred.
Prof Gowrishankar, who spoke at
length on Atreya, recalled C
Narayana Reddy’s words that had The Hussain Sagar lake is abuzz with activity as GHMC personnel have started removing the remains of immersed Ganesh idols and other
Kalidasa been alive he would have
hugged Atreya for his classic lyrical devotional material, which add up to over 1,300 tonnes. Some scrap hunters too are on the job.
style. Atreya gave a lyrical shape to
the actual incidents that took place
in his life, he said.
He was a playwright, story-writer
and dialogue-writer too.
Lavanya Art Creations organised
the programme.
Helping to restore missing children to parents
HANS TUNES About 10,000 children parents’ unwillingness to register
complaints with the police.
are reported missing A senior representative of an NGO
Samudrala from the city every year in Hyderabad points out that almost
and less than 3% of 30,000 girls from the State are
them are ultimately pushed into the sex industry each
year.
traced. The Hans Andhra Pradesh is among the five
India’s correspondent States with the dubious distinction
Sridhar K Penna takes of having the highest rates of child
a close look at the fac- trafficking, as the racketeers see it
is a lucrative business.
tors affecting the most A study by the NHRC suggests that
vulnerable segments of low income families are the most
population. vulnerable sections. The modus
operandi of the traffickers includes
one or more of the common methods
T he figures are grim and dread-
ful, but startlingly true. At
least one child runs away from his or
of drugging, abduction, persuasion
and deception.
Serious investigations and commit-
her home every thirty seconds in the ted attempts to trace girls and chil-
country! The reasons vary, but the A rescued woman and children with the representative of an NGO dren reported missing are few and
experience is traumatic for parents far between. This essentially stems
who in most cases are left with no child trafficking in which several the National Human Rights Com- each year in the State, including from the involvement of `re-
You know he is my party clue to trace the child. Apart from well-entrenched rackets are in- mission (NHRC) and the National 10,000 from the city. Of these, spectable’ people in trafficking.
cases of children running away from volved. Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), nearly 1,100 remain untraced. Heralding a welcome change in
youth leader ! homes, there is the larger problem of According to figures available with about 45, 000 children go missing Some NGOs attribute this to the (Continued on P-II)