Young innovators from Kashmir Valley make waves at Delhi startup festival

Aditi Tandon

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New Delhi, November 27

Serial innovators from Kashmir are making waves in the National Capital where a unique event is underway to identify and celebrate the country’s startup potential.

Shazia Jan with her LPG-powered samavar (traditional Kashmiri pot for making tea that otherwise runs on coal), Mushtaq Ahmed Dar with his ingenious LPG cylinder carrying device and Aabid Rahman Dar with his modified snow-cutter that works wonders in narrow alleyways of the Valley where larger equipment can’t enter are catching market’s eyes.

The three have found place in a unique People’s Festival of Innovations at India International Centre, curated by former Union Biotechnology Secretary Renu Swarup and Anil Gupta, founder, Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN), Gujarat startup scheme’s nodal agency. As many as 80 deep tech and grassroots technologies are being showcased and innovators are being helped find a market.

“India is being recognised as a global innovation hub and our startup ecosystem has made a mark worldwide,” says Swarup, who led India’s Covid-19 vaccination development journey at the height of the pandemic.

Aabid Dar’s snow-cutter has already made a mark and a patent has been filed. The first year M.Tech student of structural engineering at the NIT in Jalandhar, Dar, who hails from Anantnag, is now keen on licensing the technology to others for manufacturing and sale with GIAN already supporting the development under its Micro Venture Innovation Fund. Dar has modified tilling machines to work as snowplows. It can clear three feet of snow in one go.

Shazia Jan (30), an Anantnag-based housewife, has fabricated her samavar by inserting a curved gas burner inside the cylindrical shaped fire container. “The modified samavar takes 15 minutes to serve 25 cups of tea, saves time and cuts out coal-induced pollution,” says Jan, who is seeking industrial partners to take her innovation forward.

The unique foldable device to carry LPG cylinder in hilly terrains, made by Mushtaq Ahmed Dar who is also from Anantnag, proved to be a lifesaver during Covid with GIAN funding the gadget. Nearly 1,000 pieces have already been sold.

“GIAN is looking for potential licensees who can scale it up to millions at lower cost; it’s different from available carriers in terms of locking system and ease of mobility,” Anil Gupta says.

India has become the third largest startup ecosystem in the world with 107 unicorns at a total valuation of over $340 billion as of September 2022.