THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Jayesh Natarajan juggles many hats with ease. During day time, the 36-year-old resident of Nagaroor in Thiruvananthapuram repairs two-wheelers at his workshop. In the evening, he is busy attending BTech classes at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET).
And, for the past five years, Jayesh has also been relentlessly pursuing research on rifles. The work eventually won him a patent. Jayesh was awarded the patent by the Government of India recently for his innovative idea of a ‘twin magazine rifle’, which could be an asset for the defence sector.
The patented design of the rifle is a modification of the single magazine rifle currently used by defence and security forces.
“At present, a solider has to manually load a fresh magazine once the existing magazine is exhausted during firing. The twin magazine rifle does away with this requirement. This will save a soldier valuable time during live combat,” explained Jayesh.
According to him, the Army Design Bureau has initiated steps to examine the technical competency and feasibility of his design.
While former Director General of Police Alexander Jacob helped Jayesh in getting access to advanced books on ballistics, Lt General (Retd) Sarath Chand, former Vice Chief of Army Staff, helped clear any technical doubts that he had.
Praveen Raj R S, senior principal scientist in CSIR’s National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), gave him guidance and encouraged him to apply for a patent.
Army examining feasibility of design, says Jayesh
It was Union Minister of State V Muraleedharan who helped Jayesh get in touch with the authorities in the defence establishment. Jayesh made a detailed presentation of his rifle design before the Armament Research & Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Pune. After examining the design in detail, the institution referred it to the Army.
“The Army Design Bureau had contacted me saying that my proposal appears promising. They had also initiated steps to examine the technical competency and feasibility of my design,” Jayesh said. He said the award of a patent for the design would be a shot in the arm for further research efforts in the field.
“My childhood dream was to join the Army. Since that did not materialise, I then thought of doing something that could be of help to our soldiers,” Jayesh said.
However, the journey till now has not been smooth for Jayesh. He lost his father when he was in Class X and the responsibility of looking after his mother and two sisters fell on his tender shoulders. At the age of 16, he started as helper at a two-wheeler service centre to support his family. After five years, he became a two-wheeler mechanic.
Jayesh then spent nine years working in the Gulf. Later, he returned to Kerala to resume his education and completed his diploma course in Mechanical Engineering. He then enrolled in the BTech Evening Course in Mechanical Engineering at CET, while continuing to work as a mechanic in Nagaroor. He is now in his fourth semester of the BTech course.