Abdul Khader Nadakattin

Abdulkhader Imamsab Nadakattin is a grassroots inventor and the founder of the Vishwashanthi Agriculture Research Centre at Annigeri in Karnataka. He builds simple, affordable machines for small and marginal farmers. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2022, from Karnataka ^[1].

An alarm made of water

Nadakattin was born on 3 March 1953 ^[2]. His first invention was a home-made alarm to cure his own habit of sleeping late: a string wound onto the key of a clock tipped a bottle of water onto his face when the key ran down ^[2].

Machines for small farms

He went on to design farm equipment that is cheap to build and easy to use without technical training ^[2]. His inventions include a device to separate tamarind seeds, a machine for making plough blades, a combined seed and fertiliser drill, a fuel-saving water-heating boiler, an automatic sugarcane planter and a wheel tiller ^[2].

His many tamarind inventions earned him the nickname hunase huccha, Kannada for “tamarind maniac” ^[2]. They began with growing tamarind on scarce, alkaline water and went on to a method for harvesting the fruit, the seed separator and a slicing machine ^[2].

In 2015 the National Innovation Foundation gave him a lifetime achievement award, presented by President Pranab Mukherjee ^[2]. He walked up to receive it barefoot as a mark of respect, which earned him the name “Barefoot Scientist” ^[2].