Dr. Anil Rajvanshi’s pioneering rural
development work for the last four decades has spanned a whole spectrum of
areas affecting the lives of rural population: renewable energy-based
cooking and lighting; power
generation from agricultural residues; innovative water technologies;
electric cycle
rickshaws; and effluent treatment through the use of renewable energy. In this,
he was the first person to promote
the use of high technology for rural development – an idea that is in vogue
nowadays.
Born and raised in Lucknow, Dr.
Rajvanshi did his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering in
early 1970s from IIT Kanpur and Ph.D. in US (financed by Govt. of India National Scholarship for
Study Abroad) from University of Florida (UF), Gainesville, Florida. After receiving his PhD in 1979 from UF, he taught
there for two and half years and then did something that young men of his age and
education rarely did those days. He came back to India in 1981 to apply his
training for developing rural India. Dr. Rajvanshi established the energy and
sustainable development work at Nimbkar
Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) at Phaltan, Maharashtra.
Main achievements and
contributions to the society
1.
He is the principal author (1996) of national policy on energy self-sufficient
Talukas which is being managed by MNRE. This is the precursor of National
Biomass power plant program and was probably the inspiration behind PURA
program. This policy resulted in setting up of nearly 10,000 MW of biomass
power capacity in India.
2.
He pioneered in 1980s the concept of large-scale dew collection
for drinking water. This has been copied world over for producing drinking
water from air. Besides he also developed very unique water technologies
and recently an innovative clean
drinking water technology for rural schools.
3.
Dr. Rajvanshi’s group pioneered the development
of electric rickshaws in 1990s. He
was the first person to initiate a program of e-rickshaws in
the country. Presently around 2.5 million e-rickshaws ply on Indian roads.
4.
He developed a unique program of
improving cooking and lighting technology for rural areas. Consequently, his
group developed the multi-fuel Noorie lantern, multi-fuel Lanstove and the
whole issue of rural
lighting and cooking technology strategy.
5.
He pioneered in late 1990s the concept of using
ethanol as cooking and lighting fuel for rural areas. This strategy has been copied and promoted
all over the world by institutes like World Bank and cooking stove Alliance of
UN. A major program on ethanol stoves is underway in different countries of
Africa.
6.
He pioneered the concept of rural
restaurants for poor in 2012. This probably led to setting up of Amma’s kitchen in Tamil Nadu
and Shiva
Bhojan in Maharashtra. Presently these schemes provide about 60-70 million
meals per year to the poor people in India.
7.
In early 1990s, his group at NARI set up
the world’s largest program on production of ethanol from sweet sorghum. This led to NARI being the only Institute in
India to be made a member of EEC sweet sorghum consortium and also helped start
the national program on sweet
sorghum. NARI has also pioneered
syrup production from sweet sorghum.
8.
He and his group pioneered the
development of loose
biomass gasification system. NARI
was the first Institute in the world to develop 500 kW (thermal) sugarcane
leaves and bagasse gasifier in 1995. This development helped spawn such
development efforts all over India.
9.
In 2002 he was the first to develop the
concept of Spirituality +
Technology = Sustainability + Happiness. He believes that this could be a
new paradigm of development for the world. He has written innumerable articles on it and published books on
this subject.
10. His
efforts have shown how a small rural
S&T Institute working on shoestring budget can pioneer technologies for
rural India; and has inspired similar efforts in India and the world. His work
at NARI, initiated in 1981, was probably the first example of rural tech
start-up in India.
Awards,
publications, lectures, etc.
He has delivered prestigious endowed
lectures and his achievements have been covered in mass media both nationally
and internationally. He has lectured and given keynote addresses at many universities in U.S.A. and
India. He regularly gives inspirational
lectures to many students at prestigious institutes like IITs, NITs, IIMs,
etc.
Dr. Rajvanshi has served on many Gov.
of India (GOI) committees like those of Planning Commission, Advisory Board on
Energy, MNRE, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), etc. He is
also a member of the Jamnalal
Bajaj Awards committee. He has more than 350 publications, some of them in
prestigious national and international journals, seven patents, seven books, and various
chapters in books. In 2014 he wrote
about the human-interest story of
his work on renewable energy at NARI and has made this book freely
available on the web in the hope of inspiring youngsters to work on rural
development.
Spirituality interests
Besides the technology work, Dr.
Rajvanshi has great interest in spirituality and holistic development as
evidenced by his books
on the subject and his various
writings which have appeared
frequently in Speaking
Tree (Times of India), Huffington
Post, Thrive
Global, South
Asia Monitor and Marathi Newspaper Sakal.
In 2016 he published his autobiography and in 2019
his latest e-book “Exploring
the Mind of God – How Technology guided by Spirituality can produce Happiness”. Both these books are freely available on the web.
Recently he has published two booklets; Deep Science in Patanjali Yoga
Sutras; and What is
Thought?
Dr. Rajvanshi believes that spirituality with high
technology should be the mantra
of India’s development and practices what he preaches. Thus, he lives a simple and emotionally satisfying
life in rural Maharashtra while developing high technologies for rural
India. In essence, he is a spiritual engineer!
Detailed CV (pdf)
Attached to the story of
India – Life lessons from a spiritual engineer. A short YouTube film on Dr.
Rajvanshi’s work and life.