INNOVATIVE BUILDING TECHNOLOGY Ashok Kumar Jain, a B.Tech. and M.Tech. in Aerospace Engineering from IIT, Kanpur, was doing his Ph.D. when he was challenged by his father, himself an engineer and a faculty member at the Institute of Engineering and Rural Technology in Allahabad, about his ability to do real hands-on kind of engineering work. He realized the limitations of his engineering training from one of the most premier engineering colleges of the world and decided to give it all up to pick up real engineering skills from the field. The sense of urgency was such that Ashok K. Jain did not even care to remove his belongings from his hostel room at IIT. Thus an innovator was born. Today Ashok K. Jain, the Aerospace engineer turned building expert runs his own establishment in Chinhat where he produces materials using ferro-cement technology. He can make ferro-cement frames which can be used as doors, windows, water tanks, boundary walls and even complete houses using a assembly of panels. He claims that he can produce virtually anything of any shape using this technology. Ferro-cement is essentially a coating of mortar, made of one portion cement and three portions of coarse sand (morang), on both sides of an iron mesh. So, by bending iron wires and covering them by a mesh any shape can be achieved. After the application of mortar on both sides of this mesh the structure is water cured. Although initially, when he started experimenting with ferro-cement in the mid 70s, Ashok K. Jain had to struggle to make people accept his technology but slowly over years he has created a market for himself. He may not be doing roaring business but he can earn enough to carry on. His annual turnover is close to Rs. 10-12 lakhs. Not the one to be daunted by challenges he once produced a vibrating table for his specific requirement at about one seventh the cost of what a professional company from Mumbai was asking for. But he is disappointed over the fact that other people have not picked up the technology. He sees in it a potential for employment generation. He regrets that youth is migrating to cities for petty jobs. If any of them cared to master his technology they could create a source of employment not only for themselves but for an entire team of masons and labourers right in the village of their residence. He has been willing and is still willing to train anybody who cares to show interest in his work. It is his heart felt desire that others should learn this techonolgy and propagate it. Recently Ashok Jain has been providing his professional expertise to Asha to build its rural centre, an Ashram, in Hardoi district. A nice room of about 13 ft. by 21 ft. with verandah on two sides and a separate small toilet-bathroom complex is already up. The entire construction is of ferro-cement. The panels forming the walls, floor and ceiling are tied together by nuts and bolts. If required the entire construction can be dismantled and assembled together at another place, a major advantage of this technology. The entire construction does not any use any baked bricks and wood. According to a rough estimate by Ashok Jain, the ferro-cement technology on the whole uses about only half the energy as compared to conventional construction. Jagdish, a mason who lives in Lalpur has picked up the technique of ferro-cement manufacturing process during the construction at the site of the Ashram. He was helping the trained staff of Ashok Jain in the installation of the structures here. He says that even if there may not be a cost advantage in this, people in the area have become curious about this new technology and some of them are going to try this out. It certainly looks very durable. He is quite confident that he too can produce the technology now. A carpenter from the neighbouring village has agreed to prepare artistic moulds for him. This is probably the beginning of the formation of a team which could help propagate this technology. The Lalpur experiment in primary education has thus begun with an innovation in building technology to which the entire village is witness. As the experiment is going to evolve the villagers are going to rediscover every aspect of their life from housing to energy, agriculture to health and education to income generation. After all, education is nothing but a process of learning. And what better subjects are there to learn about than the ones that directly impinge your life. By Sandeep Address: A-893 Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016, U.P. Phone: (0522) 347365; E-mail: ashain@l...