The Leaders Accelerating Development (LEAD) Program of Deshpande Foundation, Hubballi, Karnataka fosters innovative and entrepreneurial thinking within college students by exposing them to social issues and by encouraging them to volunteer their time and effort into the community. LEAD ignites their latent talent to come up with creative solutions. LEAD is an incubator where innovation meets implementation, knowledge meets experience, social issues meet solutions and efforts meet impact.
Bhimshi Barmamppa Udsannavar, a student from Siddeshwar College Nargund, motivated by listening to LEADership stories at the orientation, joined LEAD couple of months ago.
He was awarded by the “Best LEADer award” in the Yuva summit 2017 for developing ‘Braking System in Bullock-carts’.
“It was me who faced this issue and it was me who fixed the same.” Bhimshi said.
Bhimshi comes from an agricultural background where he faced one prominent problem, all their farms are located at elevated regions which are far from town premises. Generally, they face a lot of problem during harvest time since carrying the products back down the hill is a tedious job. Bhimshi says it’s difficult for people to walk and in such case getting the Bullock cart and taking them back is difficult and dangerous. Farmers around the country rely on bullock carts to transport large quantities of goods over long distances. However, many problems have been caused by the fact that most of these farmers are using bullock carts without a proper braking system.
Bhimshi’s mind was fixated on that and he could not get over it, there was that urge in him to find the suitable solution for these problems but he was not able to focus and put all his thoughts together. Had it been vehicles then with the help of brakes it could be controlled while taking them to farms but how can Bullock cart be controlled?
Thinking on this, Bhimshi decided to work on making brake system to Bullock carts. He collected materials like wood, ropes etc and tried several times and failed but his determination was not hit by the failures. He kept on trying and finally made the brake system to these carts. Every cart in the village has his brake system implemented for their carts. Not just his village rather all the villages around Nargund are benefitted with this.
“Instead, the bullock carts are usually stopped manually, which is putting strain on the labourers, the oxen and the bullock cart. I innovated a bullock cart brake system that is simple, effective, and affordable. ” Bhimshi quoted.
Bhimshi says his father and his brother were a constant support to him. An equal share of credits should be given to his father and his brother is what he marks.
This amazing thought of Bhimshi bagged him the “Best LEADer award” in the Yuva summit 2017.
In conversation with Bhimshi:
Ques: What striked your mind for developing a braking system in bullock carts?
From my childhood days, I used to see people of my village facing problem of going uphill and coming back on bullock-carts. Our farms are located in an elevated region and are very far from town premises. While coming back from the fields, villagers find it difficult to operate bullock carts in hilly areas. Many accidents were taking place causing harms to farmers and bullock carts too. So, I came up with the idea of applying brakes to bullock carts.
Ques: What was your inspiration for coming up with such a great idea?
One who suffers has to find out the solutions on his own. It was us who were suffering. Being from the agricultural background family, it was the need of the hour to save the lives of villagers and to come up with the solution to this problem. So,this was the only thing that inspired me.
Ques: How long did it take to complete this whole work ?
Despite of failure of two to three times, I completed it in around 17-20 days.
Ques : How failure motivated you to reach your goal?
When I tried it for the first time, I failed. I was motivated by the people that it will surely work one day. Trying it again and again I was successful in making it work on bullock carts.
Ques: What were the problems faced by you in making that Braking system?
I faced problems only in Design, assembling, joining. But it was not a really big problem for me. It was the stepping stones to my success.
Also read “All You Need Is To Take An Initiative. Meet Disha Patankar, The Reason Behind Every Farmer In Belgaum.“
Ques : Please tell us about the financial back up for your project.
It was a cost free project. I used ropes and sticks to apply brakes. So,there was no need of extra funds in adding brake system in the bullock cart.
Ques: How is this development fruitful to the people of the village?
Currently more than 200 bullock carts in my village is having braking system. Apart from my village, nearby villages’ bullock carts are now having braking system. All the villagers are very much happy because of it. The number of accidents has a drastic drop.
Join LEAD at www.leadcampus.org
Write to LEAD at : lead@dfmail.org
LEAD Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/dcselead
Twitter : http://twitter.com/dcseLEAD
YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/leaddcse
