MOU between The United Nations Development Programme and The Honey Bee Network (through Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network - GIAN)

UNDP in India and Honey Bee Network partner to map innovative solutions at the local level and bring them to scale for India and the world.

Lieutenant General Anil Kapoor, Director General-Information Systems, Indian Army, and Colonel Commandant of EME, visited Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN)

Workshop on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs

Dr. Anamika Dey, CEO & CIO, GIAN represent in Meeting of the TFM 10-Member group and IATT in preparation of the Multi-Stakeholder Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs 2019

Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) EC Awareness/Training Programmes for Farmers
Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA), Gandhinagar conducted Energy Conservation workshops for Rural Population of Narmada and Panchmahal district of Gujarat in collaboration with GIAN. GIAN made use of their networks to execute these workshops for the local farmers. They were educated for water conservation, environment conservation and energy conservation techniques. Also, information regarding various effective and efficient farm implements was shared with them. Innovations to cater energy conservation developed by various grassroots innovators were also demonstrated.

Ongoing Projects of GIAN supported by National Innovation Foundation

1. Dissemination of Herbal Veterinary Products at Tribal and Adjoining Areas of Gujarat & Maharashtra

GIAN is working on dissemination and evaluation of selected Herbal Veterinary Medicine in tribal and adjoining areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Apart from dissemination GIAN will do scouting of traditional and innovative veterinary treatment practices, review of practices, and baseline survey in different districts of Gujarat and Maharashtra. GIAN is regularly organizing extension activities about Veterinary Herbal Medicine in different villages of Gujarat and Maharastra. Along with that GIAN is supporting and guiding students working on designing and prototyping of Animal Health Monitoring Device. GIAN welcomes Veterinary intern interested in the field of Traditional and Herbal Veterinary Medicine.
Two Herbal Veterinary Medicine of SRISTI Innovation, namely Galactagogue powder and Herbal Control of Ecto-parasite for cattle are disseminated to 80 selected farmers of Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, Panchmahal, and Dang districts. The number of villages covered in the dissemination areas is Sabarkantha: 4, Aravali: 3, Banaskantha: 7, Panchmahal: 10, Dang: 12. A baseline survey conducted in 12 districts of Gujarat and 3 tribal district of Maharashtra.

1. Dissemination of Plant Varieties at Tribal districts of Gujarat and Maharashtra

GIAN disseminated farmer bred plant varieties in tribal and adjoining areas in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The objectives of this project are i) provide access to information related to the plant varieties, herbal & veterinary formulations (products) that can help improve productivity without increasing cost using other farmers' innovations, ii) to protect biodiversity of the tribal regions, iii) to verify the plant & veterinary product authenticity in community through dissemination, demonstration, field trials and documentations and iv) to build capacity in terms of income generation model of local youth by offering them technology (by technology transfer) of herbal plant and veterinary products who are willing to scale up these technologies for profit with specific terms and conditions.
Plant varieties for dissemination includes Paddy (Varieties: DRK, Surjeet Basmati, Chinnar 20, Kudarat 5, Kudarat 3) , Brinjal ( Niranjan, HZKB-1), Pigeon Pea ( Richa 2000, Kudarat 3), Hyacinth beans (JK-1), Groundnut (Morlo), Cotton (Lokjatan 1 , Lokjatan 3), Blackgram (Bhairav 1), Wheat (Kudarat 7, Kudarat 9 and Gajraj), Carrot (Madhuvan), Onion (BalwanPyaz), Mustard (Sitara), traditional seeds of bottle gourd, okra, hyacinth beans, chilly, brinjal etc. These plant varieties were disseminated in Gujarat at Chhota Udaipur, Dahod, Kheda, Panchmahal, Aravalli, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Rajkot, Botad, Junagadh, Surendranagar, Surat, Bharuch, Dang, Narmada, Navsari, Tapi, Valsadetc, in Maharashtra at Nandurbar, Palghar and Gadchiroli. Herbal formulation and practices for plant protections were also disseminated. Various meetings, exhibitions and field visits were conducted for dissemination activity and data collection. Total 223 field trials were conducted and 1064 kitchen garden kits were distributed during this activity. 

1. Diffusion of Selected Technology in Gujarat & Maharashtra

Efforts were made to increase the knowledge and interest of farmers and women in various grassroots farm implements. Also, the GIAN team guided them on how to choose the appropriate technology and its usage. Innovations such as Solar Operated Seed Sowing Machine, Solar Operated Weeder, Solar Cooker, Solar Drier, Smokeless Stove, Manual Milking Machine, and Manual Water Pump by Shaktimanthan (Tamil Nadu), Backpack Tea Dispenser, Load Carrying Device etc. were demonstrated.
After the all workshop, written feedbacks were collected from the attendees. A positive response was received and they displayed openness for more such workshops to be conducted in their respective villages. The sarpanch of each village was present during the workshops for motivating the villagers, and also gave a written note of thanks to the GIAN team for conducting the workshops.
GIAN is going to collaborate with local actors for the diffusion of small grassroots farm implement in south Gujarat tribal region. We are trying to collaborate with individuals as well as other organizations which will help us to monitor the progress as well. The idea is to establish a bank of small implement and grassroots innovations at a few places. A small revenue model for proper maintenance and repair of the tools may be devised at a later stage.

1. Participatory Design & Development of Inclusive Innovations

The basic objective to involve students in GIAN activities is to create an institutional platform where students can contribute in the process of incubation of grassroots innovations. By involving students, GIAN could target to reach as many innovations as possible across country. At the same time, students get a real-life learning opportunity to put classroom theories into practice at virtually no cost to them. While for the educational institutions, the real problem was to look for live projects for students primarily from industry, which was becoming increasingly difficult given the mushrooming of institutions and visible trend of industry to flock around few best institutions for such needs. In essence, it was a win-win situation for students, institutions and GIAN. 
Children Creativity & Innovation Center Activities
Dr. Ted Moallem conducted the workshops for students to understanding about school level science principles through live demonstrations and practical, and how do children learn science and technology by doing actual experiments and their creativity.It was Interactive Session for Students at GIAN Lab.
The Children performed experiments on basic science, physics,and chemistry like;

• Basic water conductivity for exploring science
• How to make paper circuits with just pencil (No need for bread board and other stuffs)
• Science experiments  like, How to find PH Level of liquid, water drop based microscope, How to find density in salt water and normal Water, electroplating , Explanation of breathing system work by using of balloons etc.
• How to use graphite and metal for conductivity
• About fundamental explanation about electronics circuits, battery, switch,LED, motor, How to make circuits and interfacing of electronics. How to measure voltage and current and connectivity by usage of multimeter
• Practical demonstration about How to make water level indicator, fire alarm project etc.
• How to make Mechanical Jammana Board





GIAN Summer School 2019
Mahua Seed Processing
By: KeyurUndaviya, UtsavMalam, KeyurKanjareeya&PallavMaru
Introduction
Mahua seeds are used to extract oil, which is primarily used for cooking purposes and the wastage is generally used as manure. Flowers of Mahua are used to make alcohol which also helps improve blood circulation. People either had to travel really far to get the oil extracted or use a traditional method which involved crushing the seeds by placing it in between the two wooden sticks. Three people are needed for this process. One to boil the Mahua seeds, second to crush the seeds by using torsional force and third to collect oil. The amount of oil that is extracted is directly proportional to the amount of energy applied along with how ripe the seed is. Riper the seed, more oil can be produced. This method involves a lot of energy and some oil is wasted since the wooden sticks absorb the oil. They might even break in cases where a lot of force is applied.
In the oil mills, they use high HP motors and maintenance costs are high since the load is high. The pulp that is generated after the oil has been extracted have to be manually removed when the machine is still on, which is a serious health hazard. During the team’s field visits, they found that the life of a mahua plant is 200-300 years, onset of flowers’ happen after 6-8 years of sowing. From 1 kg of seeds, 400-450 gm of oil is extracted on an average. For 15 kg of seeds, 15min are required for the extraction to be complete. Oil cannot be extracted efficiently from the seeds and the wastage is sold to farmers as manure for Rs. 2-4 per kg.
Primary Beneficiaries
Villagers of tribal areas who can use old method to making oil can get benefit by prototype.
Chosen Problem Areas
Simple device to squeezing powder which works as speedy process & production is more compare to old method they used.
Concept of Design, Assembling of Prototype
After seeing & do practically the process, we can decide the prototype for squeezing the powder & the oil is taken out from it. The local villagers can use it easily. This device is mostly made up with wood and in middle the lead screw is of stainless steel. So by rotating the upper male portion of the wood block, it come down and squeeze the bag of steamed powder of Mahua.





To Design Mahua Nut Splitter for Decreasing the Drudgery & Eliminating Injuries of Tribal Women for Oil Extraction from Mahua Seed Kernels
By: Pritish Pandya, Dhyey Pandya, BhavikModha&VikasMeghnathi
Introduction
Ediblemahua flower is a kind of lifeline in many tribal forested areas. A lot of food dishes are made besides using it syrup for medicinal purposes. It is also used for brewing though use of such drinks except for health purpose has to be discouraged.  Its nutritive value is immense. Similarly, the inside part of the ripened mahua fruit is edible and its seeds are used for oil production, a substitute for costlier cooking oil in many tribal families.
For production of mahua oil, the general protocol followed by the tribals is:  First, the seed is removed by simply pressing the ripened fruit. Then, the brown, hard and shiny seed is cracked by manual hammering, which is an inefficient and unsafe process.  The kernel is cracked by peeling off the brownish shell. Finally, the kernel is dried under sunlight and ground in a machine or contraption available locally. Nut cracking was the most important and immediate problem to be addressed first.
Primary Beneficiaries
Villagers of tribal areas who can use old method to crack the kernels of mahua nut for oil extraction.
Chosen Problem Areas
In the tribal village, people can crack the nuts with stones by hands. So in that, they have faces many problems like hand injuries, low production rate and more processing time. So GIAN summer school students start to develop mahua nut splitter which can able to reduce the drudgery of tribal women.
Concept of Design, Assembling of Prototype
In this nut splitter, they had do many kind of research and they also experience of this problem which the villagers are pershing. So they had make single hole nut sizing device. In this device, the nut can put on the top edge and after press with the two hands and the nut can break with two parts and it also become easy and time saving and also they can’t have any chance of hand injuries.













Brine Water Detection Device
By: ShivaniLal, MeenaKokare, SakshiThappa, NehaGumal, KetanJailkar&OmshreeDalvi
Introduction
The brine water detection technique is like to detect underground water. This problem statement was given to us, in that there is a detecting the brine water which is under the ground for the farmers who are doing the farming of salt known as Agariyas in their local words, for that we had many visits to the field like the village of the farmers and the place where they do salt farming. After visiting the respective places and meeting with locals we had come to know about their problems what they faced while doing the salt farming, the major problem was to detect the underground brine water.
Primary Beneficiaries
Farmers (In Salt Farm & also Agriculture Field)
Concept of Design, Assembling of Prototype
The most cost effective solution to detect the ground water is by passing the current through the area and noting the time taken by the current to complete the circuit. The ground, even consisting of a huge concentration of salt would offer a large amount of resistance to the current.
The presence of salt water or brine solution facilitates easy conductivity of the current, resulting in much lesser resistance offered and much less time taken.
The goal is LOW RESISTANCE TO GROUND. Ground resistance depends on grounding electrode selection, soil resistivity, soil contact, and other factors. The 62% Method (aka Simplified Fall of Potential Test) is one way you can measure the ground resistance at your site. 
Fundamentals
Resistivity is fundamentally related to Ohm's Law measuring Resistance. Resistance is defined as the voltage divided by the current (R = V/I) and the value of a material's resistance depends on the resistivity of that material.
Resistivity is the value of resisting power of a certain material to the flow of a moving current.
Resistivity (ρ) values are related by the equation describing current refraction.
This law acts opposite that of Snell's Law in that the current traveling from a layer of lower resistivity to a layer of higher resistivity would travel at a smaller refraction angle.
Configuration and Electrode Spacing
The basic setup for a resistivity survey involves using a resistivity meter and four electrodes.
The resistivity meter is a device that acts as both a voltmeter (measuring V) and an ammeter (measuring I) and records resistance values (V/I).
These resistance values are converted to apparent resistivity values using the formula:
Where,ρa = apparent resistivity and k = geometric factor. The geometric factor varies based on the geometry of each electrode spacing setup in typical field work, data is acquired as an apparent resistivity value and later interpreted to obtain true resistivity.





GadchiroliSodhyatra 2019
Shodhyatra 2019 was held between 13 th June to 17th June, in Dhanora District, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. Shodhyatris covered 90km on their feet by visiting 24 villages. It is one of the areas in India, mostly habituated by tribal communities. There were 33 shodhyari. Before shodhyatra was about to begin, Prof Anil Gupta told about four teachers from whom we need to gather and learn the new knowledge. One is we our self, second is people with whom we are walking, third is people from villages with whom we interact and fourth is the nature with whom we interact.
On first day, in Khuntgaon, we met GawadeMaharaj, who is  well known for his treatment for paralysis and crams. He also told about many other traditional practices for natural medicines. In the same village, BaburaoMesojiPada told about herbal practices to prevent paddy from diseases like maavatudtuda.  In Mendhatola, we met Shilpa Shankar Gedam, who had made arty-craft from old saaris. In Usheerpur, we met two school going students, Ankush and Gauraw, who made three models of machines which can be used to give water to road when road is constructed. That was an exceptional example of understanding problems around us and arriving at a solution shown by just 8-9 yrs boys. On second day at Rekhatola, during village meeting, Anita Usandi, introduced us to Mahua powder and Laddu! In next village , we met state level wrestling champion JayshriKargami. We all were stunned after knowing about her.  In the same village we collected traditional seeds of rice spices. In Pustola village we met a very youngest Sarpanch, RanjanaPustola. She was just 24 yrs old successfully running a village! On third day, in the village called Yedampayali, while exchanging seeds we discovered new variety for beans made by DashrathHichami.
In all villages we observed gender based harmony and observed how women are treated with equality. Also they were all habitual to high cleanliness not just in their home but in surrounding as well. In BhendiKanhar, during village meeting some villagers taught us about craft from leaves of tree. There we ate many interesting and delicious vegetable recipes. During this journey we also observed that though there were TV unite connections at many houses, they still practises open defecation. In village called Jappi, we met many enthusiastic villagers who were curious to know about innovations displayed by SRISTI about farming equipments. At Idasgondi, we all learnt cooking recipes of Suran from a villager. At Ghodezari, while interacting with village women, we learnt about their marriage system and culture, traditions around it. We were little surprised and actually felt covetous for their custom of staying together with partner before marriage to genuinely give a try for relation before getting married. This shows that these people are way more open minded with deep understanding of marriage institution. In this journey, we got introduced to two great tribal activist, DevajiPada and DevajiTofa. DevajiPada told us about how with lots and lots of hard work how they have succefully implemented PESA act in almost all villages because of which these villages are  now able to take control of administration of their village in their hand through Gramsabha. This jouney ended at well-known tribal activist DevajiTofa’s village. Mendhalekha is the first village of India to secure community forest rights (CFR) - following the passing of the historic Forest Rights Act (FRA) in December 2006. Now villages can sell bamboo and earn money through it. Bamboo, Hirda, Behada, are major plants available in forests. Rice is the main crop among Adiwasi.
It was another exciting, adventurous journey to explore remote tribal communities, their culture, and biodiversity, understanding their shrewdness for surrounding, collecting and sharing traditional knowledge related to farming and medicines, traditional food recipes and finding out innovations. Tribal community life has always been around the forest. Adiwasi from Dhanora district has made remarkable journey by fighting for Forests rights and implementing PESA act by showing exceptional community level unity and understanding the importance of preserving and cultivating natural resources. By welcoming with warm hospitality, they opened their treasure of traditional practices and knowledge for us. We ended this journey at Mendhalekha, with hope to work further in collaboration with local villagers on topics as establishing various enterprises or setting up market for traditional arty-crafts and food.







GIAN Farmer Store
SRISTI organizes SATTVIK food festival every year. A special market is arranged for the farmers to sell their organic and LEISA (Low external Input Sustainable Agriculture) food products. Over the years, we realized that there was a demand for round the year availability of LEISA produce. GIAN took the initiative and started the GIAN Farmers Store to sell these produce sourced from the farmers members of SATTVIK and sell in the city at a very marginal profit for covering the logisticalcosts. Rice, Wheat, Wheat Flour, Juvar, Bajra, Maize, Groundnut, Chola, Moong, Moong Dal, Chana, Val, Oil, Ghee, Turmeric Powder, Jaggery, etc., are sold through the store, apart from sharing various grassroots innovations. Refreshing sharbat of KhatiBhindi, Fidla and other organic juices is available. The popular non-stick pan, HariyaliHandi made by the Rathwa tribal community is also sold in the store. The pan is coated with natural lac which makes it a nonstick and it takes less oil to cook food. Various Mitticool products are also placed in store: cooker, refrigerator, pots, handi, tawa, glasses, bottles etc.

Capacity Building Dhanuka Community
Challenges
Heavy to handle products: They produced thick products because they believed if they made lighter products they will break in the firing. During the training period, this myth was broken as most of the works produced were thinner than their normal products
Rough to feel: The finishing was done at the bone dry stage. Because of addition to clay the clay becomes very coarse and its difficult to sand it. The sanded dry clay particles start floating in air are are easily inhaled which can result in health hazards in the long run.
Gheru application: The product is rough,  the surface is uneven resulting in application will is thick and thin and uneven.
Lac application: As the product is not very smooth, the quantity of lac applied is more which leaves uneven traces which can be visually disturbing
Unclean work area: The work area was kept very unclean which can leave traces, marks, clay particle, dry clay adding and any other impurities around to stick to the product
Thickness understanding: They were not aware of the concept of thin and thick.  If some parts of the product are thin and other thick it can lead to cracking at drying stage.  Besides the product will seem heavier to hold as there is no uniformity. To avoid cracking issues they started making heavier products.

Eyeing clay thickness: When beating the clay, they were not able to make uniform thickness products as visually or by feel or touch they could not understand the concept of evenness.
Tilted products:  In pottery the basic creation of forms or product starts with the principle of centering. The process of centring is necessary for equal distribution of clay for balance. This principle has to be used at all stages of creation to avoid lopsided products. The participants were not aware of this principle. Moulds were used to create forms without keeping the center in mind.  Also, while drying they do not put the products straight or in center. As a result, the product created were either tilted or lopsided.
Uneven rims:  Uneven rims are a result of not uniform clay thickness or not equal pressure applied.  The participants were not able to understand unevenness and how to straighten and level rims
Flared out rims: The participants do not know any other method except pushing the rims outward.
Finger movement: Their skills were limited to using only the whole hand or using larger parts of hand. The participants could not think that they could use one finger for rounding and smaller parts if the products. This was another reason for flared out rims of all products.
Additions to clay:  organic matter is added to clay to get binding is on approximation basis. There is no ratio or quantity method. If the clay soaked was too wet, more organic matter was added to the clay to make the it dry and workable. They do not know other ways of making clay workable like drying it or are not wanting to implement it to save time.
Only Moulds: Except of beating the clay on mould, the participants know no other method of creating forms. Making bigger slabs of clay on floor and putting them on moulds was not known,
Skill limitation: The method they know: make small clay chapatty and then put it on mould and beat it just to cover the surface. The movement of beating they follow is not in circular motion, but is from center to down and down to top. As a result some parts of the products are thick and thin. Also, the pots are bottom heavy, as the clay is not shifted down.
Pressure application: It was observed that the participants did not understand how much pressure to apply on different parts of the product. The pressure applied also changes at different stages of product whether it is at formation or leather hard stage or other stages.
Only circular: The knowledge is limited to only creating circular slabs. They do not think of creating square, rectangular or any other forms of slabs. These shapes of slabs can result in interesting forms.
Fear of breaking pots: While sanding they feared creating holes. This is because they do not know how to feel clay thickness or assess through sound created with tapping method. To overcome this challenge their solution was to make thick pots.
Joinery:  Before joining two forms it is advisable to make the rims even and remove any excess clay. The participants were not following this, as a result a lot of unevenness was seen.
Minimal touching: Once the products are made, to not lose form and shape, it is advisable to not touch it and not move once placed for drying. The participants kept on moving products before they were leather hard resulting in deformation.
Too much Water: Water is needed to created forms. Usage of too much water leads to deformation, it is of utmost importance to know how much water to use at what stage to avoid deformation. The participants lacked this knowledge.
Clay waste: clay shards, scrapped clay and hard clay was thrown away. They did not know how to recycle. A lot of clay was wasted.
Fired Broken pieces: Their own fired broken pieced can be ground to powder and used as addition to clay to get interesting effects and increase clay strength. Some of the cracked pieces can be used as mould. These ideas were shared with the participants.
Visual strength:  assessing the form when created visually, visual understanding of balance, unevenness, visual appeal are some of the challenges that needs to be addressed
Sprawling work too much: The work while making as well as drying was sprawled everywhere and was mot systematically organised and kept. This always leads to shortage of space and thus the whole production cycle suffers. The shelf life of a product is very long. If these pieces are not kept and organised then there is a lot of unnecessary movement of works resulting in breakage and deformation and marks.
Eye level: Once the product is made we should put it at eye level and move away from it to assess the orm. This was seldom done. So any deformation that can detected at this point was never corrected. This method of assessing works was also introduced.
Cleaning hands: From making to finishing the hands needs to be cleaned frequently to avoid leaving unnecessary traces, marks and dry clay particles. The products were shifted moved and touched through the day with dirty hands. Even the finished products were touched with dirty hands. Those parts of the products which were contaminated with dirty hands were never cleaned and finished.
Attention to details and finish: It is a time-consuming process and hence ignored by many
Lac Application: Lac was applied on the hot pieces. This released hot fumes and smoke resulting in eye burning and breathing problems. This is hazardous to health. If the pieces were too hot, lac would burn off and was of thick coating. When the pieces were cooler was colour was brighter and the fumes released were relatively less. Smoke is one of the reasons for uneven application besides different temperature of the pots during application.
Overcoming challenges
Newer forms and mould were explored. The participants were taught the circular logic of beating. They were encouraged to make lighter forms. A lot of focus was given on how to keep the forms straight at drying and making stage. The participants were made to understand thickness and its importance. Clay slabs were rolled and cut, to make them understand what was trying to be achieved in terms of thickness uniformity. Emphasis was also laid on making even rims. In the first firing phase, there were rough and even rims. They were taught how to finish the rims and build them in an even manner. They were also taught the inward hand movement to make deeper bowls and bigger forms. The participants were encouraged to start finishing and compressing clay right from making stage to get better finishes and reduce the making process time. As once mastered, the finishing time at green ware stage is much lesser compared to drying stage. Burnishing to have better and smoother adhesion to clay at leather hard stage was also insisted on. How to level mould to avoid tilted forms was demonstrated and products were built thus. How to level clay with removal of clay and addition of clay was also explored.  Better joinery techniques were demonstrated and taught. Clay murals were built. Demonstrated how to take impressions on clay. Also demonstrated clay subtraction and clay addition to get depth and create interesting effects. The participants were encouraged to do relief and carving in clay. From forth day, the participants were told the benefits of keeping workspace clean and were forced to keep the workspace clean while working also. The participants were taught how to recycle used clay which they usually throw away as waste. They were taught how to collect clay scraps and made to roughly calculate how much clay they throw away and how many products they could have made with it leading them to think of loss not only in monetary terms as well as time spent on collecting that much clay. They were also taught newer ways of making clay which is less time consuming.

• Taught how to see levels
• How to cut rims for proper shapes
• Understanding straight to avoid tilted forms
• Different methods and processes of joinery
• How to make products using less water
• Finishing techniques at different stages of production
• Burnishing methods and when to burnish
• Use of paper and plastic for better results
• How to handle products to avoid deformation
• Encouraged to make newer forms
• Understanding forms and shapes
• Introduction to pinching and coiling method of formation
• Levelling products at all stages
• Making and using templates to get better shapes

Suggestion
The participants lack a lot of basic knowledge and methodology needed for creating forms. The biggest challenge which was seen was the use of uneven moulds. The participants are buying from the potters what they like without form consideration. They never thought of creating their own moulds. The mould they are using are nothing but similar to the forms they create. The skill they have is very limited. The further training should aim at enhancing their existing skill in addition to imparting newer techniques at a later stage of training.
Observations
It should be noted, that there was resistance to learning newer method as they feel its time consuming and difficult to learn. Some participants refused to do any finishing at all as they saw it as waste of time. They are able to sell these unfinished products in villages so felt there was no need to do it. The platters/ plates they created have very rough sides at bottom which can easily cut hands. The refusal to finish is out of fear of breakage and more time taken at production stage. To break this mind set, they were forced to introduce these newer methods. After seeing the end results they were happy. Any positive change that is introduced should be made to practice till it becomes a habit. One participant was chosen to create the products as suggested using newer method. Few participants saw the results and advantages of this and started following the newer method.
Another smaller example of this was clean work environment. They said it is going to get dirtier so we will clean it at the end. Showed them how to use newspaper below products to avoid chipping and easy lifting of works. How to collect the clay scraps in containers to constantly keep work are clean. As a result of this dry scraps of clay don’t stick to the product. The clay thus removed is non-contaminated and can be reused instead of throwing away. How to clean areas before keeping products for drying. This process needed to become a habit for better results.
In this phase a lot many forms were explored besides haryalihandi and tavdis, which they generally create. Every form requires different hand movement, attention to finishing, different pressure application. As seen from the range of products, only better finishes and improvements were seen in tavdis and handis where attention to finishes were given.
It was also observed that the participants were lazy after lunch break. After third day their productivity started becoming lesser and their focus also started drifting as laziness started setting in.  The other reason for lack of interest was products will not dry for second firing so why should we make more.
Training suggestions:
The skills of the participants are limited only to beating clay on mould. There are various other methods of creating forms that need to be taught. The project requires taking baby steps and not quantum leaps. The participants need to unlearn a few habits to learn newer and faster methods. In the initial stages of the project their basic skill shall be used and refined. In the initial phase, longer training periods or frequent training periods will ensure learning becoming a habit. To keep the confidence and motivation levels high, better methods of beating with focus on quality and uniformity will be stressed upon. Once the duration, frequency and time period of training is agreed upon a plan can be chalked out as to when newer methods of formation be introduced at what stages.
Creating moulds:
In the initial phases the participants shall be taught to make their own moulds with their own resources. This can help in improving quality. This will also reduce their expenses of buying moulds from local potter. Most of the moulds they use can be created by them. They can multiply moulds without the expense factor in mind which will also increase the scale of production. The organisation will have to make small investments for the forms they would like to create for mould making. These original forms can be retained by organisation and used later for their own purpose.
One product at a time:
To get quality products focus shall be only on one product at a time, till it is fully mastered. The same product should be made in different sizes as sets and using different techniques. Teaching too many things create confusion and diverse focus. The participants end up making only what they are comfortable with and do not want to learn newer things. Focus should be on quality and aesthetic appeal and not on quantity. Mastering one shape will increase their productivity and confidence level. Usually the participants try and avoid making products that take longer time. To overcome this challenge this strategy is also helpful.
For example:Haryalihadis. The pot is like a human body. The product can be divided into parts. The inner form of the pot is called body, when deciding the form we have to decide how much belly to give the pot, the rim is the neck, the part that the rim sits on is called the shoulder, then there are feet and handles (hands). All these together create an aesthetically appealing form

• How to have beautiful and disturbing curve of the bowls
• How to create better rims, the shoulder should move inwards or outwards
• how to have visually pleasing rims which are undaunting
• how to make hollow handles and attach to the bowls to give it more character
• How and where to place feet, what kind of feet, different feet forms
• How to add motis and other reliefs to make forms more interesting
• How to create lids
• How to make proper centred knobs on lids
• How to crate flanges for better lid fitting
• How to create locks to lids do not open
• Application of lac with brushes

There are many aspects to a form. Only after one aspect is mastered do we move on to the next. After being with the participants, it is advisable to not introduce all the aspects of a form at a single training phase.  One form from one phase will lead to other pleasing forms.  Each form will have a breakup like this, where all parts making and finishing will have to be addressed. Once one product is mastered, other forms are easy to follow.