In the summer of 2016, Kanav Garg went on a trip to Bharatpur, Rajasthan with his family. While the others were basking in the beauty of the forts and the bird sanctuary, the lanes of dark chulha smoke and coughing vendors caught this 17-year-old’s eye. Touched by what he saw, Kanav knew that something needed to be done.
After six months of hard work and research, this second year Pre-University student from Christ Junior College, Bengaluru developed a solar-based induction cooktop that reduces cooking fuel cost by nearly half. And the best part – it is completely pollution free. This solar-powered induction has a clay cooktop instead of a metal one and is zero emission.
His own brainchild, building the cooktop wasn’t a walk in the park for this science enthusiast. Kanav remembers several failed attempts and a few burnt circuits. He also found it difficult to procure a
few parts and often reached technical dead ends. “I started from scratch. I made everything on my own and did not use an existing induction,” says Kanav. His teachers came to his rescue whenever he hit a wall. “I was taking help from every smart person I knew. A few shopkeepers helped me out too,” he says.
The entire experiment cost Kanav a total of `35,000 but he estimates the cost at `15,000 if manufactured commercially. “With this cooktop, the cost of cooking will be approximately `5 per day, whereas with a regular LPG cylinder, it is about `12 per day. So the cost is almost halved. Additionally, this device is expected to last for 15 years without any maintenance,” he says.
Being a student, finding the time to work on his project was an obvious issue for him. But living far away from college was a blessing in disguise. He brilliantly used the transit time of 45 minutes for research and coding.
Kanav’s parents were supportive of his work. They were unaware of his project for the first couple of months. “I have a workstation at home, where I keep making and breaking things. Once, I required a certain part and needed my dad’s help to get a solar panel;
that was when he found out. He liked the idea instantly,” he says. Once the cooktop was functional, the family inaugurated it with a few cups of tea.
This young inventor now hopes that the government invests in his cooktop and subsidises it, so that more people can benefit from it. “If the government can invest its Swachh Bharat cess in something like this, then it would gain recognition. It will be a firm step towards development,” he says sanguinely.
Reach Out: kanav2garg@gmail.com