TOI : Rural women can carry water the easy way : Sept 19,2007
Rural women can carry water the easy way
Anahita Mukherji & Derek Abraham I TNN
Mumbai: In a tiny workshop at Pathanwadi in Malad, 47-year-old Madhav Sawant
has designed what he calls a “jalpari”-two plastic containers held together
by leather straps which can replace the traditional matka that rural women
use to carry water. The device promises to go a long way in reducing the
drudgery faced by women in villages.
“Women in villages carry up to 20 litres of water on their
heads. This is extremely tiring and results in a stoop in old age,” says
Sawant. “The jalpari, on the other hand, distributes the load evenly on both
shoulders.
Sawant, a city-based mechanical engineer, was first approached to make a
waterjacket, designed by some students of the IIT, to help rural women carry
water. The designs were given to him by Anil Gupta, a teacher at the IIM,
Ahmedabad and founder of the National Innovation Foundation, an organisation
that encourages grassroots innovations. “The water-jacket was not too
comfortable for women,” says Gupta. Sawant took its concept and evolved the
jalpari.
Jalpari, Sanskrit for “water-fairy” ensures that the weight is evenly
distributed on both shoulders. Two containers made of High Impact
Polystyrene (HIP-the plastic used in refrigerators) with the carrying
capacity of 12 litres each, are joined by metal and leather straps; one
container is attached in front of the woman and the other rests behind her.
The Jalpari is designed taking into consideration the environment in
which a woman lives. “There is a tap attached to each container, so that, a
woman who is walking with
her child does not have to unload the jalpari to give her child some
water,”
says Gupta.
There’s a slight technical snag, though. “It’s difficult for a woman to
load the device on her own,” says Sawant. However, he points out that in a
village, women often travel in groups to the source of water, be it a well
or a river, and hence, can help each other out.
As for the cost of production, Gupta hopes that corporates will sponsor
the device as part of a Corporate Social Responsibility drive to reduce the
drudgery in villages,” he says. Sawant, who began work on the device in
February, says that the product is still in its trial stages.
anahita.mukherji@timesgroup.com
LIGHTER BURDEN: Madhav Sawant’s new device will help women distribute the
load evenly on both shoulders