Name : Mohan Sharma
District & State : Birbhum, West Bengal
Category : Engineering
Award : Consolation
Award Function : 9th National Grassroots Innovation Awards
Award Year : 2017
Innovator Profile
Mohan Sharma (50) is a fabricator and is in the business of making doors, windows, and furniture items. He developed a rice grain sorting machine about three decades back and has sold about 2400 units of the same over the years. This machine separates husk, stones, etc from rice and also segregates rice grains with the help of an automatic/ manually driven wooden fan.
Second eldest among six siblings, he had to drop out in class tenth to help his father in their carpentry work. As orders were limited and not too many to come by, his childhood was spent in poverty though he mastered carpentry while working with his father. It was sometime when he was 22 years old that he thought of making a rice grain sorting machine and after two three unsuccessful attempts was able to develop one. Post marriage he shifted to a nearby place to open an independent workshop. In his endeavours, he was ably supported by his wife, who took care of her house and two sons really well. His elder son also joined him in his workshop after his class tenth while the younger opted out of studies during his graduation and became a civic volunteer. In their workshop they make different items like doors, windows, household/ office furniture and also the rice sorting machine.
When he made the rice grain sorting machine, none in the family realised he had done something innovative. However they were happy that he had developed something that would help in business. Her wife helped him to introduce the machine in her native village.