Innovators from across India awarded

New Delhi: Vijay Bhaskar Reddy left his high flying job in a leading multinational company in Bangalore to help farmers troubled by erratic power and water supply. He invented a device which promises to change the way farmers irrigate their fields.

"The 'Kisan Raja' device allows farmers to remotely control the agricultural motors using their mobile or landline phone with the help of a SIM card installed in the device," Reddy told IANS.

Reddy is part of a group of five innovators from across the country who were felicitated at the 'Samsung Innovation Quotient' held here Thursday in a bid to support them financially.

"If someone steals the device and changes the SIM card, the machine would not work," added Reddy, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Kisan Raja is priced between Rs.3,000 to Rs.5,000 depending on the features and was introduced in southern India in July 2011 with a goal to cover the whole of India soon.

"I've sold 50 of them so far and have received orders for another 100," said Reddy adding that Samsung had promised to help him with GSM technology in the device to reduce the prices.

While Reddy took upon himself to help the country's poor farmers, some like K. Chandrasekhar decided to contribute to the country's health sector by inventing a machine which pre-screens five major eye diseases.

"The doctor to patient ratio in this country is very low. So, this machine can be operated by a technician and within five minutes detect eye diseases like cataract, diabetic retina, glaucoma tools and cornea issues," Chandrasekhar told IANS.

"This machine will eradicate the unnecessary need of visiting a doctor just for an eye checkup. They can instead first get tested by this machine and visit a doctor only if it is needed," he added.

According to the alumni of Birla Institute of Technology, the scanning device - '3nethra' is priced at Rs.4.5-5.5 lakh and he has already sold 12 since its introduction in April, 2011.

Meanwhile, other innovations include a coir bar named 'Coir Atlas' which can be substituted for a wooden log used by steel producers while transporting their products.

The second device makes the tie-and-dye process in the production of silk sarees less cumbersome and the third is an NGO in Maharashtra helping farmers to increase their produce in the fields with innovative methods.

At the end of the event, K. Chandrasekhar was declared the winner for inventing 3nethra, and received a cash prize of Rs.5 lakh. Fellow Bangalorean, Vijay Bhaskar was the first runner up and was awarded Rs.3 lakh.

C. Mallesham from Andhra Pradesh was the second runner up and received Rs.2 lakh as prize money for his invention which makes producing tie-and-dye silk sarees easy.