Knowledge@Wharton interviews Ravi Kuchimanchi

here. Excerpt:
"One of the things that I'm excited about is that this is made in a village and sold in a village. We sell it for 70 rupees [$1.75], which every village person can afford. There are very few technologies now [where that is possible]. A village can make things for the global market; that's one of the current things. Countries like China, for example, are very good at doing that. But this is made and sold in villages in India, and I like that.

I came across this idea while I was on the Internet. Basically, I was looking for an efficient device to retain heat. I knew that hay was a good insulator. I was looking for solar heating systems. Through reflectors you can heat water up, but then, to keep the water hot, you have to put it into some insulating vessel which can be lined with hay, and it is a very low-cost insulator. And so, I was doing a search on the internet and I came across this idea of the hay box.

I read that the United Kingdom used hay boxes during the World War as a way to reduce fuel consumption in their country. And so, this is a known technology and what I realized was that this has a very good application for Indian villages in rural areas. And, immediately we tried to make it locally and then we were actually selling it to village people.

One of the fascinating things that this does for them is it also keeps food hot for eight hours. It not only helps with the cooking, but it will keep something hot -- the rice stays hot for eight hours. They don't have microwave ovens to heat up things and this is something that they are very excited about because they can get hot food any time of the day. "
Ravi also discusses RTI and Narmada Bachao Andolan.
More here about"India's Underprivileged Majority: The Real Development Story" at the Wharton India Economic Forum.

See also theHoney Bee initiatives.

Scidev.net announcement of IDRC–SciDev.Net Science Journalism Award 2008. Excerpt:
"We invite all English-speaking journalists with an interest in science reporting and its impact on decision-makers in developing countries to apply for the award. The winner will receive a six-month internship placement with SciDev.Net, consisting of three months based in SciDev.Net's London office and three months travelling and working on behalf of SciDev.Net in one or more developing countries.

The internship is a unique opportunity to build news and feature writing skills, and provide a better understanding of how the Internet can play a vital role in enhancing science communication. In addition to daily tasks such as writing and researching science and technology news stories, the intern will learn about all aspects of how an online news website operates, including finding news stories, the editorial process, publishing and news dissemination."