Dr. Anil Rajvanshi, a rural-based
engineer residing in Phaltan, Maharashtra, India, has for the last three
decades pioneered the development of technologies spanning a whole spectrum of
areas affecting the lives of rural population, namely renewable energy-based cooking and lighting; power generation from agricultural residues; renewable fuel production from
agriculture; electric cycle rickshaws; water purification;
effluent treatment through the use of renewable energy and value-added products
from farm produce. In this, he was the
first person to promote the use of high technology for rural development – an
idea that is in vogue nowadays.
Born and raised in Lucknow, Dr. Rajvanshi
went to the United States to pursue higher studies at the University of Florida (UF) following his
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from I.I.T. Kanpur in the early 1970s. After receiving his PhD from UF in 1979, he
taught at the same university for two and half years and then did something
that young men of his age and education rarely did those days. He left a very lucrative career in the US to come back to rural Maharashtra in
1981 to apply his training for developing rural India. Dr. Rajvanshi
established the energy and sustainable development work at Nimbkar
Agricultural Research Institute
(NARI) situated in Phaltan taluka in Maharashtra.
His
work at NARI has resulted in the following achievements.
1. He is the principal author (1996) of national policy on energy self-sufficient Taluka which is being managed by MNRE. This is
the precursor of National Biomass power plant program and was probably the
inspiration behind PURA program.
2. Dr. Rajvanshi’s group pioneered the development of electric rickshaws in the late 1990s.
He was the first person to initiate a program of e-rickshaws in the
country-which are in vogue nowadays.
3. He developed a unique program of
improving cooking and lighting technology for rural areas. Consequently, his
group developed the multi-fuel Noorie lantern, multi-fuel
Lanstove and the whole
issue of rural lighting and cooking technology
strategy including the concept of rural restaurants. This concept probably gave rise to the
setting up of Amma’s kitchens in Tamil Nadu and Shiv
Bhojan in Maharashtra.
4. He pioneered in late 1990s the concept of using ethanol as a cooking and lighting fuel
for rural areas. This strategy has been copied and promoted
all over the world by organizations like World Bank, cooking stove Alliance of
UN and various groups in Africa, Latin America and Madagascar.
5. In early 1990s, his group at NARI set up
the world’s largest program on production of ethanol
from sweet sorghum. This led to NARI being the only institute from
India invited to become a member of EEU consortium on sweet sorghum in 1994. Their
sweet sorghum varieties have been tested in about dozen countries. This work helped
start the national program on sweet sorghum funded by ICAR, Government of India
and being carried out in many universities and research centers.
6. He and his group pioneered the
development of loose biomass gasification system.
NARI was the first institute in the world to develop 500 kW (thermal) loose
sugarcane leaves gasifier in 1995. This
development helped spawn such development efforts all over India.
7. He has pioneered the development of low
cost solar-based water purifiers.
A US-based group (set up by ASME and IEEE) has named this as one of the ten life-changing
technologies to come out of India.
8. His efforts have shown how a small
rural S&T Institute working on shoestring budget can pioneer technologies for rural
India; and has inspired similar efforts in India and the world.
Dr. Rajvanshi has served on many
committees like those of Planning Commission, Advisory Board on Energy, MNRE,
MERC, etc. He has more than 230 publications, some of them in prestigious
national and international journals, seven
patents, five books, and various chapters in
books. In 2014 he published a book which was a human-interest
story of his work on renewable energy at NARI and has made it freely available as eBook in the hope of
inspiring youngsters to work in rural development. In 2016 he published his autobiography entitled
“A life of an ordinary Indian – An exercise in self-importance” in e-book form which has also been made
freely available on the internet and in 2019 he published another e-book on
spirituality; Spirituality + Technology = Happiness.
He has lectured and given keynote
addresses at many universities in U.S.A. and India. He regularly gives inspirational lectures to a large number of students of prestigious institutes
like IITs, NITs, IIMs, etc.
Besides the technology work, Dr.
Rajvanshi has great interest in spirituality, Indian Philosophical Thought and
holistic development as evidenced in his book “Nature of Human Thought” and his various
writings which
appear regularly in Speaking Tree (Times of India), Huffington Post and Thrive Global.
Dr. Rajvanshi believes that spirituality
with high technology should
be the mantra of India’s development
and will lead to sustainable and holistic living. He practices what he preaches
and thus lives a simple life in rural Maharashtra while developing high technologies for
rural India. In essence, he is a spiritual engineer! Thus he is a person who
blends effortlessly spiritual knowledge, modern high technology and sustainable
living.
Significant Contributions of Nominee
1.
He
has shown that in rural setting excellent
research and development on rural problems can be done in limited resources and
budget. He calls this as
Romance of Innovation. [u1] Thus he and his group have many firsts to
their credit in developing technologies for rural areas.
2.
He
has inspired youngsters in top engineering and other colleges to take part in
nation-building through the use of science and technology. Dr. Rajvanshi has
given inspirational lectures on his work to
almost 10,000 students
in IITs, IIMs, NITs and other colleges all over the country. Quite a number of
these lectures have also been put on the YouTube and have been
accessed 30,000 times till today.
3.
He
has tried to interpret the ancient Indian philosophical thought in the light of
modern science and technology and has shown how it can lead to sustainable
development. Dr. Rajvanshi has written
extensively on his work on spirituality, technology and
sustainability. He has
published a book on this subject and his writings in Times of India (Speaking Tree), Huffington Post and Thrive Global
has reached more than the 10 million readers all over the world.
4.
He
lives a simple and holistic life and preaches what he practices. This is very
much in line of Gandhian thinking since he considers Mahatma Gandhi as his role
model.
Major National Awards and Endowed
Lectures
1.
In
2001, Dr. Rajvanshi received the prestigious Jamnalal
Bajaj Award for the application
of science and technology for rural India from Dr. Manmohan Singh.
2.
His work
led to NARI getting the FICCI
Platinum Jubilee Award
in 2002 from Prime Minister Shri. Atal Behari Vajpayee.
3.
In
2015 he was selected as a notable alumnus of IIT Kanpur.
Besides
the above, Dr. Rajvanshi has given prestigious endowment and other lectures in
India. They include:
4.
Invited
to give an Institute lecture at IIT, Bombay in August 2006.
5.
Invited
to give Technology Day and Prof. B. D. Tilak Memorial Lecture at NCL on 22 May 2009.
6.
Gave
an invited talk at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
(TIFR), Mumbai on 30
April 2010 at ASET colloquium to commemorate the centenary celebrations of Dr.
Homi Bhabha.
7.
Invited
to give an Institute lecture at IIT Kharagpur, 28 February 2011.
8.
Invited
to deliver 9th IndSearch Public
Awareness lecture in Pune
on Corruption and Corporate Sustainability, 9 August 2011.
9.
Invited as keynote speaker at Indian
National Academy of Engineering
Conference on Innovation. September 2012, New Delhi.
10. Invited
talk at Stanford University – Reliance Industry workshop in Mumbai, on Game Changing technologies
for Developing World. May 2013.
11. Invited to give Second
Gemini Ganesan Memorial lecture
at Madras Christian College, Chennai, 3 March 2015.
12. Invited to be chief
guest and deliver a Keynote address at the Second Mechanical Engineering
Graduate Research Symposium (MEGRES)
2015 at IIT Bombay, 21 March 2015.
13. Invited to give Plenary address at National Conference on
Complex Engineering Systems of National Importance, Chandigarh, 12-13 October
2017.
14. Invited to be the chief guest and deliver a lecture at the Foundation Day
Function of Savitribai
Phule Pune University, 10 February 2019.
15. Delivered Keynote address at India International Science Festival (IISF),
Kolkata. November 2019.
International
Awards and Prestigious Lectures
1.
In
1998 Dr. Rajvanshi was inducted in the U.S.- based Solar Hall of
Fame. He is only the second Indian to be inducted
in this Hall of Fame.
2.
Dr.
Rajvanshi received the Globe Forum Award in Stockholm from HRH Crown Princess Victoria in 2009
for his sustainability research. The other awardees were Tesla Motors (for
Innovation), Novo Nordisk (for sustainability reporting) and Cardiff City, UK
(sustainable city).
3.
He
received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from
University of Florida (UF) in 2014. Dr. Rajvanshi is the first
Indian to be given this prestigious award from UF one
of the top
Public University of U.S.A. He also gave his acceptance speech at the
commencement ceremony.
4.
He
received the Distinguished Lecture Award by College of Engineering, University
of Florida, Gainesville, September 2004.
5.
He
received the Patel Center Award to give a public
lecture in the prestigious Globalization series at the University of South Florida,
Tampa, March 2007.
6.
Dr.
Rajvanshi was invited to give the plenary address at the International Conference on Environment
Engineering at Penang,
Malaysia, 13 December 2010.
Besides the above he has given invited
lectures at MIT, Boston; University of California, Berkeley;
University of California, Davis; Carleton College, Minnesota; North Carolina
A&M University, U.S.A.; among others.
Impact of Nominees Work
Dr. Rajvanshi’s
work had the following impact at national and international level:
·
He
developed the complete technology of electric cycle
rickshaw in the late 1990s
when no one in the world even conceptualized it. In 2002, when his design of
the rickshaw was picked up by the internet, it spread like wildfire and now
there are close to half a million rickshaws around the world, the designs of
which could easily be traced back to his work.
·
The
biomass power generation report that he prepared in 1991 on a shoestring budget
finally led to MNRE-run national policy on biomass-based
power plants with NARI
being the principal author. Under the scheme, 130 power plants running on
agricultural residues and each with a capacity of 6-10 Mw have been installed
throughout the country.
·
He
pioneered in India ethanol production from sweet sorghum in the early 1980s and
his work later on ethanol-based lantern and stove played a major role in
initiating the program of alcohol cooking and lighting in Africa and southeast Asia
where close to half a million stoves have been distributed.
·
His
work on the strategy of setting up rural restaurants
in 2012 has led to the development of Amma Unavagam(2013) and most recently (2020) to Shiv Bhojan in Maharashtra. Around 500 million poor
people have been provided reasonably healthy food via these schemes.
·
Dr.
Rajvanshi is an inspirational speaker and his lectures,
articles and podcasts
have inspired a large number of students the world over to work for social good
and live a sustainable life.
His story of sacrificing a lucrative career in the US and settling down in
rural India has inspired
hundreds of students studying abroad. Similarly his inspirational lectures in
various colleges in India have inspired hundreds of students in nation-building.
All of his research speaks for itself and he is a living example of a person of
sheer determination doing his best to solve some of the problems of rural areas.
Contributions to the Society
Dr. Rajvanshi’s decision of leaving a
stellar career in the United States and coming to a rural town with
non-existent resources just to work for the country is in itself an inspiration
for generations to come. He is a living role model for the youth of the country
which prefers to go abroad rather than stay in India and try to improve
it. After coming to India in 1981, he
has worked on rural development for the past 37 years. All of his research has always been directed
towards the goal of improvement in the quality of life of the rural poor. His key societal contributions are summarized
below:-
1. Pioneering development of technologies
for rural areas. They included cooking and lighting; power generation; renewable
fuel production;
increasing farmers’ income, electric mobility
and water purification among others.
2. As a thought leader developing concepts
and strategies for rural
development. They include rural restaurants;
precision agriculture; biomass power generation; electric mobility;
cooking and lighting strategy and the whole issue of sustainable
development and life style.
3. Inspiring through
his lectures,
writings and podcasts thousands
of students both in India and abroad to help light up the lives of rural poor.
4. Showing how even with limited
resources excellent science and technology (S&T) work can be done in rural
areas. In this he pioneered the concepts of doing
more from less for more (MLM) and using high technology for rural development. Both
these ideas developed by him in 1990s are popular nowadays.
5. Living
a sustainable and holistic life in rural areas and spreading this personal example of
sustainability through his talks, writings and podcasts.
6. Writing extensively on spirituality and interpreting the ancient Indian
philosophical thought in the light of modern science and technology. Thus his
writings on the subject of spirituality and technology in Times of India,
Huffington Post and syndicated articles have reached a
wide audience all over the world.
What Dr.
Rajvanshi preaches is something he practices too, leading
a simple and holistic life
using minimal resources and delivering maximum output. In this he is practicing
what Mahatma Gandhi preached, “Be the change that you want to see”. He has been
inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and considers him as his role model. He has also
written extensively on
Gandhi ji.
Dr.
Anil Rajvanshi’s detailed CV (pdf)
Dr.
Anil Rajvanshi’s short biodata
(pdf)
Dr. Rajvanshi’s writings,
speeches, books, videos and podcasts.
Address for correspondence:
Nimbkar
Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)
Tambmal, Phaltan -415523,
Maharashtra, India
[u1]I don’t think you should have the same link more than once in a given paragraph