hot properties/new inventions/innovations

1.Recently cotton cultivation was badly affected by the incidence of white flies, diseases and overuse of insecticides, to the extent that many farmers gave up cultivating cotton, enduring great economic loss. Harbhajan Singh and his brothers then devised a new method of cultivation, which is sowing cottonseeds on ridges in a pattern of 2feet-6feet-2feet. That is to say, they kept a six feet gap between each set of two ridges at two feet distance from each other. Tractors were used to set the spacing between the ridges and water was allowed to flow only in the two feet gap and not in the six feet one. This pattern of sowing and irrigation helped them obtain a good yield even during the years of drought and in conditions of acute scarcity of water. Ndtv.com,15.12.20062. In a country bearing the reputation of being one of the world’s least efficient energy users, an innovation that has the potential to save five million tones of oil in a year would surely ring a bell. Researching his innovation since 1993, Mr Bhattacharya has come up with a pressure-type kerosene stove that has oil savings to the tune of forty to sixty per cent above the regular stove, additional features being enhanced safety, reduced operating noise level and better combustion. Mr Bhattacharya has applied for a patentIndianinnovation council (google)15.12.20063. The problem began when Mr Duraisamy was unhappy at having to eat cold food. By the time his wife could bring food from the house to the farm, it got cold. The solution came from a class IV text book belonging to Duraisamy’s daughter. In it was written that air when compressed generates heat. He also knew from his own experience that a cycle pump gets hot when air is being pumped from it. He thought of utilising the heat wasted at the exhaust of a water pump. Using an old engine as a compressor, Duraisamy took a pressure cooker and made two holes in it. Inside the cooker he kept a sealed container that was to act as a heat exchanger. The hot compressed air was pushed in through one hole and came out through the other. Thus was made a unique pressure cooker fuelled by compressed air. It takes about seven minutes reach a temperature of about 300 degrees centigradeNdtv.com,15.12.2006