The Auspicious eco-friendly little yellow-brown Van of Dayalbagh

In this world rapidly transforming into a global village, transportation is an important need and a bond for us social humans. This sector is also one of our biggest polluters. There is an ever-increasing number of vehicles on the road and continuously dangerous levels of pollutants in the air. In the US, 27% of their Greenhouse Gas emissions are from transportation.¹

This week our post is a story of ingenuity and innovation, a story of preservation of air quality while wasting nothing, a story about the

“Auspicious eco-friendly little yellow-brown Van of Dayalbagh”.

The post below is by Ms. Sumati Singh, a proud alumni of Dayalbagh Educational Institute (DEI) working for a leading market research agency – Nielsen, with inputs from Prof. Ajay Saxena, Head of Electrical Engineering Department at DEI.

Over to Ms. Sumati.
Anurag
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Ms. Sumati writes...

From the Internet to the Ultrasound, many amazing innovations are products of professors and students working together in great universities around the world. Academic isolation is replaced by linkages and collaboration of institutions, industry and society enabled by technology.

At Dayalbagh Educational Institute active learning takes place even outside the classrooms. Innovative learning environments include group learning and practical applications, with conducive infrastructure and technology to facilitate.

Dayalbagh ensures very high air quality for its residents and encourages use of alternative energy sources. The residential colony doesn’t allow regular vehicles inside its campus and the tree lined roads encourage you to walk or cycle. Residents who find it difficult to do both need alternatives to regular gasoline vehicles for their commute within the sprawling campus.

This presented a unique “local” opportunity for innovation.

Seeing both the local Dayalbagh needs and understanding the global trend on cleaner emissions, Dayalbagh Educational Institute took up the challenge of creating a solar augmented, battery operated vehicle for Dayalbagh residents, in a collaborative project between Department of Electrical Engineering and Automobile Engineering.

A diesel van, which had been used for auspicious cross-country tours, was taken up. The vehicle was getting old with increasing cost of maintenance, increasing fuel consumption and other safety issues.

The project team was led by Prof. Ajay Saxena and Prof. Bhagwan Das along with a very capable and dedicated team of faculty, students and local volunteers², to convert the diesel van into a Solar Electric Van.

While designing the converted vehicle, the team decided to retain the original look adding to cherished memories of the van’s yesteryears.

The van was converted into a Solar Electric Van by replacing the diesel engine with a 25 HP electric DC motor powered by a 96V, 400Ah battery bank. The van batteries are charged by Solar photo-voltaic modules during sunlight hours and through grid power during the night. Roof mounted solar panels of 1.2 kWP in the constrained rooftop. There is also a manual single axis sun tracking system to optimize solar energy received.

Every day the van consumes 20 units from the grid (night time charging) and 5-6 units of solar power.

To minimize re-build cost, the body parts of the van were not replaced by lighter weight parts as is a norm in converted vehicles. The weight of vehicle without motor/battery/engine adds up to 3000 kg! Add to it the weight of 20 HP, 96-volt DC Motor of 90 kg, and 16 batteries (6 volt each lead acid type) of 800 kg.

The design and conversion was done in-house in Dayalbagh Educational Institute including fabrication of parts. A thorough study of similar battery vehicles was conducted by the project team when they undertook the challenge.

Costing Rs. 1.6 Lacs, through regular maintenance the battery has lasted all these years. The total expenditure on conversion of the van was about Rs. 6 Lacs!

The seating capacity of the vehicle is 20+ passengers and it is regularly used to ferry Dayalbagh residents within the Colony, collecting a nominal charge of a few rupees and has an average earning of Rs. 400 per day (by the way, the idea is not to earn money on it).  The vehicle is operating since 2009 without any major fault. Faults, if any, are rectified by Dayalbagh Educational Institute team.

The van also becomes a practical guide for the students. This has fueled further innovation and the students have already converted two Maruti vans into battery operated systems. One of Maruti vans has 450-watt solar panels mounted on the roof!

This is just the beginning, the next automobile innovation being taken up is that of converting a Mahindra Scorpio into a hybrid vehicle! One which can run only on diesel, or only on battery or run on both the power systems at the same time.

In all these models, there will be regenerative braking, where the batteries are charged back during braking, thus conserving energy. The idea is also to mount flexible solar panels, on the roof top to augment through direct solar energy, while the vehicle is parked or moving!

Again, this will be a first of its kind. A retro fitting, not just a stop-start hybrid vehicle, but one that can be driven within a city on battery and can be powered by diesel on the highways alleviating distance concerns and keeping the battery costs and vehicle weight down!

Notes:

1. Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
2. The project team included Prof. Ajay Saxena, Prof. D. Bhagwan Das, Mr. Vijay Malhotra, Mr. Majer Singh, Mr. Ram Chand Gupta, Dr. G S S Babu, Mr. Surendra Pal, Mr. Gopi, Mr. Padam Das and Mr. Goverdhan Dayal

Reuse of Water

"All the water that will ever be is, right now."

National Geographic, October 1993

In an earlier post, we gave you global water statistics. Let me quote these again.¹

1. 2.53% of global water is fresh water (Glaciers, Ground ice, Freshwater lakes, Swamps, River flows, Biological water, atmospheric water)
2. 1.7% of global water is in permanent ice/ glaciers (and depleting).
3. Only 0.76% of global water is fresh water ground water (and depleting).
4. Only 0.007% of global water is in fresh water lakes (and depleting).
5. Only 0.0002% of global water is in river flows (and depleting as the sources are drying up).

Water availability from river flows for home usage, agriculture and industry is no longer sufficient. There are already indications of water wars between nations and water riots in our localities.

To ensure water availability for our burgeoning population we need to ensure

• that the sources of river water are replenished and preserved
• that we can recharge ground water sources
• that we can recharge our fresh water lakes

Further, if we recycle water it increases availability substantially (something that nature anyway does through the water cycle). Recycled water is purified and treated wastewater so it can be used again for new purposes, primarily non-drinking. Our post this week is on

"Water Reuse at Dayalbagh".

This post is by Dr. Satya Prakash, Sarpanch of Prem Nagar Mohalla at Dayalbagh and previously Head of Chemistry at Dayalbagh Educational Institute and Scientist Leader of Nuclear Chemistry at Bhabha Atomic Research Center with inputs from Mr. B S Ahuja, TFA, Radhasoami Satsang Sabha.

Regards,
Anurag

Dr. Satya Prakash writes...

Waste water from domestic use in Dayalbagh falls into two categories. One arises from kitchens, bathing, washing clothes and other household chores. This flows into a network of drains that discharges into open ponds and is used for irrigation and ground water recharge.

The second category of waste water is from the sewers of toilets of each of the houses and this gets collected into septic tanks behind every house. In these septic tanks due to bacterial degradation the BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand which is a measure of organic content) is reduced by 60%. The overflow of effluent from septic tanks is led through the sewerage system to a common collection tank. From here the effluent is pumped into an oxidation pond where BOD decreases to nearly 10 ppm as the water is further treated. Such independent processing system exists for each Mohalla of Dayalbagh. The treated water is used to irrigate land for agricultural produce.

In addition, effluents collected from a large area within northern part of Agra are sent to a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) located at Jaganpur, about 5 KM north of the Dayalbagh Colony. A 14 MLD (million litre per day) STP was commissioned in 2011 under an agreement between Agra Nagar Nigam and Dayalbagh, where Dayalbagh provided land for setup of the STP at a nominal cost. The plant provides 14 MLD (Million Litre per day) of treated effluent for the Agricultural Farms of Dayalbagh. Excess water from STP is released to the River Yamuna for downstream usage.

The whole process of recycling of water ensures lesser water demand from the Yamuna river and also ensures that the Yamuna does not get polluted through untreated effluents being discharged into it.

1. Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World fresh water resources" in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources (Oxford University Press, New York).

Imbibing Satyuga (Age of Truth) values in Kaliyuga (Age of Sin)

Every-day we hear of rampaging mobs gruesomely killing in the name of politics, religion, caste, region, language, food choices, skin color or differing attire in this diverse world.

How can so many humans come together and become so evil, with not even one person standing up against the mob? Is it a lack of moral values or a lack of moral courage?

Or is this real human nature? Reminds one of lines from Tennyson:

For nature is one with rapine, a harm no preacher can heal;
The Mayfly is torn by the swallow, the sparrow spear’d by the shrike,
And the whole little wood where I sit is a world of plunder and prey.

Shouldn't the basis of a civilized human society be “right is might” rather than “might is right”?

We cannot blame our falling values on Kaliyuga, the Age of Decadence and Decay. Just take one look at the faces of innocent wide-eyed children. They are ready sponges waiting to absorb what the world has on offer. Their values will be what we teach them at our homes and in our schools. More importantly their values will be what they learn through practice, through observed behaviors of elders and the values that they see society applauding and upholding.

Revered Dr. M B Lal Sahab in His gracious address at the Closing of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1978 advised the gathered students, “It is not merely the study of books that is required of you, you have to assimilate what you read and more than that imbibe the values of humanism, secularism and democracy”.

Our post this week is on Students 

"Imbibing Satyuga (Age of Truth) values in Kaliyuga (Age of Sin)".

The post below is by Dr. Smita Sahgal, a top Academician who teaches History at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi. She did her studies in History from St. Stephen’s, is an avid researcher and writer, has presented multiple papers and has been a recipient of prestigious honors including the Best Paper award from Indian History Congress.

Best,
Anurag
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Dr. Smita writes…

As a young girl in school I would wait for our ‘moral science’ class because that meant freedom from travail of formal tutorial or lesson imparting and more of reflection time. We could discuss a range of issues and arrive at some broad parameters of what may be called as Value education. For many of us it simply meant a free period. As I grew up and moved on to become a teacher myself I realized that this compulsory lesson in ‘moral science’ where some of my friends took it as time to relax, was certainly a needed rumination routine. Today ‘value education’ is not a fashionable term amongst many students as it is taken as a regulation exercise. That’s the impression I got in my numerous interactions with students in the metropolis. They think of value education as something that counters freedom of thought. Is that really so, I often wondered till I interacted with students of Dayalbagh Educational Institute (DEI).

The curricular at DEI has built Value education as an integral aspect of its philosophy on education. It appears to be more than just a philosophy; students figure out mechanisms to apply it in their dealings with society at large. I grew fascinated with the concept of evolution of a ‘complete person’ one who is not only physically, mentally, intellectually strong but also acquires consciousness of outer environment and inner self. Let me elucidate my understanding with an example.

As a student of social history, I took caste system as a very discriminatory and divisive social contrivance, one that should be done away with. But one of the students did not decry it but postulated as, ‘a man can gradually evolve into a superman’ if he were to integrate the positive qualities of all four castes, that is of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra in his persona. On further prodding I was enlightened that each of these castes is associated with at least one good quality; Brahmans are associated with education and reflection, Kshatriyas with self-defense, Vaishyas with provision of food and other goods to others and Shudras with service to all. If an individual were to assimilate all these qualities not only would he learn to respect everyone but the social differences which the ancient caste system has constructed over centuries would also get mitigated with time. The process would be slow, but an extremely pragmatic one and would address a fundamental social issue of discrimination.

Students at DEI are taught not just the courses that they have enrolled in but also to spend time in community work. Working in fields give them first- hand experience of tilling the soil, in dairy of seeing and participating in the process of milking and pasteurization, in Community kitchen of cooking and serving, in village camps of teaching and serving the village community. The practical experiences are balanced with consideration on other serious social issues and I was impressed to find many DEI students forming opinions on issues such as extravagant marriages and problem of dowry and gender inequities. This is done along with their rigorous academic schedule where many are trained to become engineers, technicians, teachers, researchers and academicians.  Ultimately this kind of education equips them to recognize dignity of labor and impacts their interactions with society at large. This is education for life, they summed up.

I was also keen to know about their views on religion and whether there should be dominance of one religion or whether religious issues should be discussed at all in social life. I encountered a variety of responses. One student was candid enough to state that he was uncomfortable discussing his religious affiliations and was therefore surprised to see a compulsory paper on Comparative Study of Religion. ‘But my views changed with time’, he stated as the course did not turn out to be promotion of religious values of a particular religion. Another of his class-fellow put in, ‘ma’am I have understood secularism better though am still unsure of its genuine political application’. ‘So many of us in the institution hail from varied religious and community backgrounds but we never get a sense of alienation. Comparative religious study gives us an insight into different religions and one is surprised to find such commonality in their principles. What I have learnt through my years at DEI, is to respect all religions and even if I am a firm believer in my own I need to remember that it does not give me the right to disregard another sect or tradition’.  ‘Is this not a secular approach to life?’, he mused. ‘Yes’, said another, ‘we did study about our constitution being secular, but for that to remain so we as students, citizens, statesmen etc. have to learn the principle of respecting each other’s cultural and religious affiliations’. A girl who had been quiet throughout the discussion opened her mind and chipped in, ‘that’s also my democratic right’.  ‘I agree that initially I, too, thought that religious studies of any kind may end up in imposing certain kind of views and came prepared to counter them but here I saw that the ideas promoted were of fundamental humanism; tolerance, inclusivity and according dignity to every human being and if these are reiterated through value education or by studying religious traditions around the world, let’s not be critical’.

My interaction with these young minds left me spell bound. I could not help revisiting my moral science classes as a young girl. Yes, those did help me to form opinions on many issues but what I saw at DEI was the application of ideas in a very practical way. I would not hesitate to advocate this model for other institutions as well. Students must move out of their self- growth/ individualistic modes and see themselves as a part of a larger community to which they need to give back as well. This sense of camaraderie comes when we frame a kind of value system for ourselves and institutions play a significant role in formulation of these.

Amrit - the Food for Divine Mortals

According to Hindu Mythology, on churning of Kshir Sagar (Ocean of Milk), Dhanvantari, the heavenly physician, God of Ayurveda, emerged with a pot containing Amrit, the heavenly nectar of immortality. A fierce fight ensued between Devas and Asuras for the nectar. To protect the nectar from Asuras, Garuda took the pot, and flew away from the battle-scene. The Devas appealed to Vishnu, who then took the form of Mohini and as a beautiful and enchanting damsel, Mohini distracted the Asuras, took the Amrit, and distributed it among the Devas, who drank it.¹

Have you tasted Amrit? Do you have the desire to become one with the Divine?

The Amrit (अमृत) that I am referring to, comes from a very different Manthan (churning). A daily Manthan of Love, Devotion, Selfless Service and above all Grace. A Manthan where everyone can participate and partake in the distribution.

In her book, Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way, Shauna Niequist writes, “I think preparing food and feeding people brings nourishment not only to our bodies but to our spirits. Feeding people is a way of loving them, in the same way that feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own createdness and fragility.”²

Our post this week is on

"Amrit – the Food for Divine Mortals".

The post below is by Mr. Rajiv Narain. Mr. Narain left his leadership position in the hospitality industry, where he headed operations for the Jaypee Palace Hotel in Agra and earlier headed operations for key hotels of the Taj Group to do “Seva” (selfless service) as the Deputy General Manager at the “Bhandar Ghar” in Dayalbagh, a community kitchen that serves both the residents of Dayalbagh and the pilgrims that make their way to Dayalbagh from far and near.

Eat Healthy,
Anurag
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Mr. Rajiv Narain writes…

Dayal Bhandar or Bhandar Ghar (Dayalbagh Community Kitchen) opened on 16th Feb 1915.

As a child, I remember sitting on the floor of our mother's kitchen at home and eating food served from the Patila (pot) along with hot Phulkas (puffed Indian bread) straight from the Tava (pan) and Sigri (stove). Food which was fresh and tasty accompanied with lots of love and affection.

This is exactly what is happening at the Bhandar Ghar. It is the Rasoi (Kitchen) which prepares lunch and dinner for the residents of the Dayalbagh colonies and for the visitors.

The raw material like wheat, rice, lentils, mustard oil, vegetables including potatoes and onions are grown and produced in the Dayalbagh fields with selfless service of the Dayalbagh Residents and Visitors and in which the Revered Leader also participates hence all the ingredients are blessed with Grace, Love and Affection.

The Bhandar Ghar operations start at 4:30 AM in the morning with a group of lady volunteers cutting vegetables and cooking starts at 6 AM by trained and experienced staff and the food is ready for dispensing at 9:30 AM sharp for about 1,000 diners normally, the number goes up to anywhere between 6,000 to 15,000 during Bhandaras (a gathering of pilgrims). As the lunch finishes the preparations for dinner starts by another group of lady volunteers and the dinner is ready by 6:30 PM sharp. Simultaneously the roti (puffed Indian bread) making happens between 6 AM and 12:30 PM in the morning and between 4:30 PM and 8 PM in the evening by a group of lady volunteers and is made manually on wood/coal fired Bhattis (furnace) and about 10-12,000 rotis are made every day.

The Bhandar Ghar has minimal number of regular staff and the major part of the operation is supported by teams of volunteers in the age group of 18 to 90 yrs. The dedication and punctuality of the elders is unmatched and exemplary.

The biggest challenge for the Bhandar Ghar management is to keep the food cost under control and as per the budget as there is an unbelievable price of Rs. 6/- meal (vegetable, dal, roti, rice) charged to each diner. The monthly expenditure is checked and audited to keep it in line with the budget.

The menu changes every day with a special menu for lunch on Sunday’s followed by khichadi for dinner, so that you are ready for a busy Monday.

The Bhattis (furnace) are lit with wood cut from the dead trees from our fields and the challenge ahead is to find an alternate fuel as dead wood is becoming scarce day by day. We also use solar energy and gasifier and are dependent on sunlight and wood respectively. Efforts are on for induction cooking as an alternate with the help of solar and steam generation.

Bhandar Ghar also boasts of its horticulture in the form of beautiful front lawns with multi-colored seasonal flowers. It also has medicinal and fruit trees like Neem, Jamun, Bel, Guava, Lemon-tree and Drumstick.

There is a continuous effort to maintain and improve hygiene in preparing and serving food by way of training and providing appropriate tools. In order to ensure food safety, water from an R.O. plant is used for all preparations.

In case of any excess food, the same is informed to the rest of the

Agra branches for pick up and leftovers are relished by Cattle at the Gaushala (Cowshed).

The day ends with utmost satisfaction if all diners are satisfied with our Seva in preparing tasty, hygienic and safe food.

Welcome to Bhandar Ghar!

Attribution:

1. Photograph of Samudra Manthan by Ram Samudrala - Own work by the original uploader, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30569352

References:

1. Samudra Manthan - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_manthan
2. Shauna Niequist - Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way