IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013 - 69

account on my own. Now I can save
for the future and ensure that my
daughters study well."
Venkatamma, a 49-year-old
widow who stays with her son and
daughter in law, used to be buried
under household chores. But after
the installation of a solar cooker in
their home, she started a small business of making and selling flower
garlands. She is independent today
and lives on her own terms.
Biogas has also enhanced
agricultural productivity of the
village. Before the inception of
biogas plants, one of the primary
necessities of farming was to
improve fertility of the hilly soils
using chemical fertilizers. Besides
being extremely expensive, chemical fertilizers had several other
implications- the foremost problem
was the slow loss of fertility due to
chemicals leading to irreversible
long term soil damage. A second
problem was political-government
subsidizes chemical fertilizers and
distributes it through official suppliers but most of the time, these
suppliers misuse their monopoly
and exploit the farmers. "In our village, all the farmers used to have a
tough time with the fertilizer supplier. I used to receive fertilizer
packed in moist and torn bags. As a
result of moisture, fertilizer used to
become unusable. I complained to
the local authorities several times
but no action was taken. We paid a
fortune for fertilizer and got almost
nothing in return." complained
Rajan, a 50-year-old farmer. Biogas
production was an answer to the
hardship of farmers and led to the
formation of organic fertilizer as
a by product which could be used
either as a replacement of chemical fertilizers or as a raw material
for earthworm cultivation. According to NEDCAP, the total annual
production of organic fertilizer in
Bysanivaripalle is nearly 300 tons.
Organic farming has the following economic benefits:
1) Using the by-products of biogas production as fertilizer is

Fig.2. A K14 solar cooker in Bysanivaripalle.

much cheaper than purchasing
chemical fertilizers.
2) food products of organic
farming have higher market
value and hence, have contributed to the farmers' prosperity.
3) farmers enjoy greater independence while using fertilizers without depending on
exploitative middle men and
suppliers.
Social Situation
Empowerment of women is one
of the most significant impacts
of RET implementation in Bysanivaripalle. Women have more
time to engage in productive work
and education. Previously, many
young girls were forced to drop
out of school because they were
required to do household chores.
Girls as young as 8 years old had
to go to the forests to collect fire
wood. Today, women are able to
concentrate on their education that
has made them more ambitious
and confident. Janaki, a 33-yearold farmer has four sons. Before
the implementation of RETs in
her home, she was unable to give
time to her children because a lot
of time was spent in managing the
house. She could neither monitor
their performance at school nor

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

fALL 2013

could she keep track of how school
teachers were treating them. As a
result, her sons started skipping
school and failing in their studies. Janaki admits that paying less
attention to her children was one of
the biggest mistakes she had made
and that she is grateful to fellow
villagers for bringing hope in the
form of modern technology to her
village. Today her sons perform
much better at school and she is
able to focus on their development.
She hopes to see them as doctors
and engineers in the future. In
fact, many farmers have been successful in converting their dreams
into reality, including providing a
good education to their children.
Around eight families in the village have sent their children to engineering school. Two families have
made their children doctors. Villagers reveal that RETs brought modern
technology to their doorstep which
not only encouraged them to think
big but also inspired the village kids
to study well and excel academically. Twenty-eight year old Geetha
is a doctor today and is proud of her
community. "Once upon a time girls
could not even go to primary school,
let alone becoming doctors and
engineers. Gone are the days when
villagers were 'backward.' I am sure
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013