Well, way back in the '80s Khopragade noticed three yellow-seeded spikes growing alongside his regular paddy crop. The experimenter in him nudged him to sow them separately. The result was tasty and Khopragade named his find HMT, after the watch he wore. He knocked at research institutes to get his product scientifically tested. Recognition came slowly, accompanied by the perils in publicising such research. A local agricultural institute took five kg of seeds from him, strained it and sold it as PKV HMT. Patenting his discovery could have settled the issue, but for farmers like Khopragade, it isn't easy. Usually, the products sent for patenting are duplicated down the line.

Despite getting a raw deal (or no deal!), our barefoot innovators continue their efforts. Most of them say it is to help themselves and make lives easier around them. Like Linga Brahmam from Narsurpet village in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh. His invention: a clothes iron which works on gas instead of coal. Great for villages without power. City-dwellers, Brahmam says, can save on electricity bills. "It's environment-friendly too...no coal is required," he adds. Brahmam has been scouting around villages close to his home for potential buyers. The price of his invention, which he spent sleepless nights perfecting: Rs 2,500. Now it even has a heat regulator. "I believe creating something new is the greatest thing we can do," says Brahmam who hails from a family of ironsmiths.

Making life a little easier for spastics is U.K. Bharali's present calling. The man from Assam is currently working on a chair that will help spastics "take care of themselves", especially when eating and washing. Bharali is sceptical of sharing details of his innovation but says it will capitalise on the limited head movement spastics are capable of. For his efforts, Bharali is likely to get the master innovator award later this year.

There is no dearth of innovations/inventions happening in our villages. From Mohammed Usman Shekhani of Bhanupratappur, Chhattisgarh, who's devised a way to splice bamboos mechanically for making incense sticks, to the walnut-cracker machine from Anantnag in Kashmir, modified by Mushtaq Mohammed. To keep the record straight, Shekhani is now battling local politicians who are threatening to sabotage his creation. Mushtaq, like many others, is waiting for some company to come forward and market his invention.

According to Prof Gupta, the general perception is that rural India is not only poor but also deficit in ideas."There is no paucity of ideas and inventions happening in our villages," he says. Gupta, along with five other grassroots organisations, scout for talent every year, awarding the truly meritorious with cash prizes to publicise their achievements. The hope is that some company will come forward and lend them a helping hand. The success rate thus far has been nil. The irony is that the list of awardees is finalised by corporate bigwigs.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then Prem Singh Saini is an exception. He is what one would call a compulsive rural innovator. His invention? A mobile phone remote-controlled switch that can turn on/switch off power. The 28-year-old school dropout from Haryana has been featured in the media but corporate help is still a far cry way. Still, he's been formally adopted by the NIF and his job, says Professor Gupta, is to constantly create. It's the first such adoption by an organisation under the IIM. Saini gets a fellowship to innovate while the organisation looks at ways to get more Sainis into its lab.

Sitting in a roomful of disembowelled cellphones, Saini worries that companies are not thinking of rural India at all. "Is there any point in talking about over half the population living in the countryside...without doing anything for them?" he asks.

NIF still has a long way to go in attracting the attention of corporate India, or to convince them to start micro-ventures with innovators at the grassroots. When asked why even an IIM has failed in this regard, Gupta had this to offer: "It's baffling that there has been no response. We have had some success in exporting some of the herbal produce to countries like Brazil and Australia. As for corporate India, we still live in hope." So do our humble innovators.