People And Their
Problems
New Delhi, 9 February 2007
Animal Energy
System
IMPROVED BULLOCK
CART ON THE MOVE
By Radhakrishna Rao
Although India is going in a big way for IT and
communications, it will have to depend on draught animal power for the next 50
years at least for ploughing and carting, says
Prof. N.S. Ramaswamy, founder of the Bangalore-based CARTMAN (Centre for
Action, Research and Technology for Man, Animal and Nature) and a well-known
architect of a number of improved bullock cart verities.
Significantly, in India about two-third of the land
under crops are ploughed by bullocks and about 15 million carts in the country
are drawn by bullocks. Going specific, Ramaswamy says that draught animals
provide about 50 billion units of energy valued at Rs.5,00,000 million every
year. In addition, they help save about
6 million tonnes of fossil fuel
valued at Rs.12,000 million per year.
While serving as the Director of the Indian Institute of
Management (IIM), Bangalore,
Prof. Ramaswamy had played a key role in designing a variety of improved
bullock cart types suited to the needs of a variety of terrain conditions in
Karnataka. Moreover, he has all along been driving home the point that India needs to
cover substantial ground before it makes use of the draught animal power in an efficient and
integrated manner.
Against this backdrop, the CARTMAN initiated research and
development projects and social science research, aimed at modernizing and
improving the animal energy systems. Sources in the CARTMAN say that
traditional bullock carts have been improved by introducing pneumatic tyres,
steel wheels, smooth roller bearings as well as steel platforms. These
improvements have contributed to the increased carrying capacity of the carts
with lesser energy inputs by the
animals.
As part of a programme, funded by the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR) for the last two years, researchers from the CARTMAN
have conducted surveys among small and marginal farmers spread to ten villages
in Karnataka. These surveys have helped get inputs/hints for the improvement of
bullock carts. In fact, the feedback from this programme has gone to show that
the biggest problem faced by the farmer was the bulky size and massive weight of the cart. And as such, the traditional
carts were redesigned with rubber bonded sheet wheels.
As pointed out by the CARTMAN, “smaller rubber tyres cannot
be used in the villages because they get stuck into the slush. So we had to combine the advantages of the
traditional carts with our innovations”. In order to minimize the cost of
improved bullock carts, rubber rim extracted from old tractor tyres are being
fitted on into the steel wheels. This innovative design makes the bullock cart
good enough for various terrains. This cart has been designed to take a load of
two tonnes.
Significantly, in the conventional bullock cart---used in
most parts of the country which has two wheels---a major part of the load is
borne by the d raft animals on their shoulders and the neck and the harnessing system at present makes it difficult to
negotiate sharp bends of turns in the road. This is known to cause galls on the
neck of the bullocks which leads to the lowered efficiency of the animals due
to their depleting stamina.
The CARTMAN’s new design is specifically engineered to
overcome the deficiencies of the conventional carts by having an additional
wheel to balance the load. Further this increased efficiency cart has a tilting
mechanism which is based on the rope and pulley system. This rope and pulley
system located alongside the cart driver can be used to control and manipulate
the cart.
Of course, many research organizations in the country have
been active in designing and developing improved bullock carts suited to the
needs of rural India. In keeping with this trend, Rashtriya Ispat
Nigam (RINL) has given a “steel look” to this quintessential
symbol of rural India. Sources in the RINL says that while
traditional cart made of wood can carry just ten quintals, improved cart made
of steel an haul a weight of upto two tonnes.
Similarly, the steely avatar of the bullock cart has a lifespan of two
decades as against five years for the conventional wooden cart. Moreover, the
steel bullock cart can easily be dismantled.
Basically, this improved bullock cart is made of square or
rectangular steel sections and have inbuilt features that make for greater
stability with low centre of gravity. In fact, this feature makes the cart
specially suited for operations on ill maintained rural roads. For many a time,
traditional bullock carts traversing the poor village roads topple, causing
injury to the bullocks. And this makes
for a loss of time and money for the
farmers.
The RINL improved steel cart weighing about half of the
traditional carts, help reduce the load on the animals by a substantial extent.
Currently two types of improved carts are available--- one with a carrying
capacity of two tonnes and the other with a carrying capacity of 0.5 tonne. The
cost of these carts vary between Rs.12,000 and Rs.15,000. Indeed, these carts
are not only a great boon to the farmers but also to the bullocks.
All said and done, the light weight does not mean the steel
cart will carry less load since the
welded does not mean he steel cart will carry less
load since he welded platform has an appreciable high load carrying capacity. Only
the yoke is made of wood since the steel would be abrasive on the bullocks’
shoulder. Since it runs on wheels mounted on roller bearings, the cart can be
pulled very easily.
Load brakes for both the wheels are provided so that the
cart be stopped instantly” observes, Dr. R.K.P. Singh, Director General of
Institute of Steel Development and Growth (INSDAG) which has been involved closely
with the designing of the improved bullock carts. “Ultimately, we want these
carts to be made locally at the village level and are trying up with various
agencies to train the village youths”, says Dr. Singh.
Interestingly, the cart is flexible enough to allow
modifications, including the replacement of wheels by the tyres. These improved
bullock carts weigh just 240 kg as against the wooden cart which weigh 650-kg.
These carts have already become popular with farmers in the interiors of West
Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
For the first time, brakes have been introduced into these
carts for controlling the movement of the cart, especially in slippery and
difficult to negotiate terrain of the rural roads. More importantly, the wheels of these
improved carts fitted with taper roller bearings makes for smoother, faster and
easier movements.---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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