South Asia Working Group

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South Asia Working Group was reconstituted in the month of august 2020 with experienced team of volunteers from Industry, Academia, Social Enterprises, Independent Professionals and GIEEE. Following are present members

  • Sanjay Patki – Vice President, SAWG
  • Dr Satish Chetwani, Secretary , SAWG
    • Social Enterprises: Ashok Das (Sunmoksha), Paras Loomba (Global Himalayan Expedition)
    • Independent: Rashmi Naik (CSR Links), Priti Vaishnav
    • Academia : Prof. Sasi Kottayil, India, Prof. Celia Shahnaz (Bangala Desh), Prof Windhya Rankothge (Sri Lanka)
    • Industry: Sanjay Patki, Girish Khilari, N Kannan, Dr. Satish Chetwani, Eugene Kingsley, M HariGovind
    • GIEEE: Harish Mysore
  • Special Invitee / Mentors : Prof Anil Pahava , University of Kanakas (USA) : Dr Bhavraju Murty (USA), Dr Shaligram, University of Pune

SAWG Sub-committees:

  • Safety, Reliability and Quality : Convenor – Mr N Kannan/ M Harigovind
  • Community Engagement and Collaborations : Convenor- Ms Rashmi Naik
  • Technology Support and Business Model : Mr N Kannan

Student Branches :

  • Savitribai Phule University, Pune , India
  • University Of Tezpur , Aasam India

Thrust Areas:

  • Rural Entrepreneurship
  • Rural Economy
  • Rural Healthcare
  • Rural Transport
  • Energy
  • Sustainability of Agriculture

SAWG Charter

  1. Soliciting and Mentoring Project proposals from suitable organizations to align with three pillar strategy and sustainability
  2. Energy Access and Livelyhood Solutions based on Right Technology for productive use of Electricity , with right capacity and right business model
  3. Safety, Reliability and Quality
  4. Service delivery models suited for Long term sustainable operation and community buy-in
  5. Collaboration with organizations and Engagement with Partners for knowledge and project implementation
  6. Capital Cost reduction through standardized solutions
  7. Promotion and Marketing :communication/Events and conferences

Project Proposals under consideration / Implementation stage

  1. Transforming Agro Biomass to Biofuel Fuel Pellets: The project proposes to use locally available agro biomass and convert it into fuel pellets by local self help group generating employment. The pellets will be used to fulfill domestic energy needs (i.e. cooking). The local women will be educated on the domestic energy and health related issues and to run the business to generate clean cooking fuel as solution.
  2. Sustainable Rural Community Development in Jhawani Village of Assam, India by University of Tezpur: This proposal is for sustainable solution concerning rural livelihood using smart irrigation, improved fish farming and micro agro-processing units to be operated by rural farmers’ community. It aims at using solar PV irrigation system with IoT (Internet of Things) control as primary facility along with some essential facilities including agro-processing units to add value to farm products through a viable business model. Sensor based water management is expected to contribute resource conservation and learning platform for farming community.
  3. Solar Smart Irrigation for Kudagaon Island Village, Odisha, India. The Solar Smart Irrigation project will provide a reliable, sustainable and scalable water supply system for agriculture. SunMoksha’s Smart AQUAnet™ will enable farmers to adapt to data-driven, scientific, precision irrigation. It will optimize water requirements based on crop type, soil type and soil conditions. It will also create awareness and build capacity for smart irrigation and precision agriculture. It will directly benefit 48 farmer families (192 people) and increase their income by >2X within a year
  4. Empowering Aboi Changle Location: Nagaland, India: The project involves the Solar Electrification of the remote Aboi Changle Village hamlet in the state of Nagaland in India. The capacity development will be done at the local level to enable the maintenance of the infrastructure, while creating a fertile ground for local energy entrepreneurs to come up as part of the project. Solar Electrification of the village will impact the lives of 44 households and 377 people who are residing in the remote village of Aboi Changle located close to the India-Myanmar border.
  5. Strengthening Nagaland Medical Centre Location: Nagaland, India: The project involves the Solar Electrification and Installation of critical medical care equipment in the remote Primary Health Centre of Aboi village in the Mon District of Nagaland in India.
  6. Aravalli-Digital Empowerment for Women and Adolescents: Use of SMART Digital technologies to enhance entrepreneurship and promote education are two main focus of the Program. The program aims to create an enabling conditions that empower young adolescent girls and women with digital skills. It will harness the opportunities of digital infrastructure and tools that serves an enabler to create community based entrepreneurs for various livelihood generation options and entrepreneur ventures as part of overall smart village development initiatives in Aravalli region.
  7. Integrated Smart Village Social Impact Proposal: This social impact Program with IEEE-ISV outlines engage, educate and empowerment model. The program is built on following specific projects under broad strategic focus on Generating Livelihoods for the Women Entrepreneurs. Empowering rural women in Aravalli through small-scale decentralized rural industries is the aim of this project. The project proposes to enrich indigenous resources, protect the environment, support the organic farming movement, reach out to vulnerable and economically weaker rural women, artisans, and farmers, develop their skills, and build a sustainable economy.

The Project Objectives

Provide livelihood to 100 tribal women (7 SHGs + 50 HHs) by establishing 8 enterprises based on local natural resources:

  1. Honey -2 products
  2. Wax products – 4 Products
  3. Organic Ginger – 4 Products
  4. Turmeric – 2 Products
  5. Neem Oil – 2 Products
  6. Neem products – 3 Products
  7. Agarbatti & Mosquito repellent – 2 Products
  8. Bio-Gas

Contact: 

Sanja Patki