Uddhab Bharali
Uddhab Bharali receiving Padma Shri from President RN Kovind. Image - Twitter @rashtrapatibhvn

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday presented Padma Shri to Assam’s innovator Uddhab Kumar Bharali for science & engineering at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the national capital.

Informing this on its Twitter handle, the President’s Secretariat stated on Saturday: “President Kovind presents Padma Shri to Shri Uddhab Kumar Bharali for Science & Engineering. A grassroot innovator from Assam, he is known for more than 140 innovations like paddy thresher, cane stripping machine, pomegranate de-seeder and low cost incinerator.”

Also read: Assam: Lakhimpur jubilant as Uddhab Bharali sets to receive Padmashree

Uddhab Bharali is a recipient of a number of national and international awards including the President’s National Grassroots Innovation Award in 2009 and winner of the NASA Tech Brief Create the Future Design contest – 2013 and Padma Shri is the latest feather in his cap.

Bharali, who studied Mechanical Engineering in Jorhat Engineering College, Institute of Engineers Madras Chapter in Chennai, started his journey of innovating devices in 1988 while redesigning a polythene-making machine.

Bharali’s internationally-acclaimed creation is pomegranate de-seeding machine.

Bharali’s is a low-cost machine that could de-seed pomegranates.

He made this machine by using centrifugal force, hammer within a spinning cylinder.

It could de-seed 55 kgs of pomegranates in an hour.

The gadgets made by Bharali are targeted at rural low-income households.

In the year 2006, the innovator’s design for a desktop pomegranate de-seeding machine was recognized as the first of its kind across the world.

The invention of the pomegranate de-seeding machine led to his nomination for NASA’s Technology Award.

His another invention, the mini CTC tea plant, which was aimed to help small time tea-plucking workers and farmers, had gained him a nomination for the World Technology Award 2012.