The 65-year-old retired primary school teacher Khimjibhai Kanadia has more than 50 innovations to his credit, all of which reduce the drudgery in various mechanical tasks and improve work efficiency. One of Kanadia’s most famous innovations is Kittanal. One of the major activities in nurseries, bag filling, is a tedious and expensive task. One had to use the scoop several times to fill one bag, thereby consuming time and involving extra labour. Khimjibhai’s meticulous observation of the process yielded a simple yet intelligent idea, which gave birth to ‘Kittanal’. It is a hollow cylindrical piece of PVC pipe with an elliptical opening at one end ( one end slightly broadened and the other end cut at 45 degree to the axis). The tapered end is inserted into the polythene bag and held over the PVC pipe and scooping the other end in the soil fills the bag in one scoop. Though it looks a very ordinary device, it is highly effective in filling plastic bags with soil, which are used for growing saplings. Kittanal has won widespread accolades from different agencies like the forest department of Gujarat, the paper and pulp industry major Ballarpur Industries and the Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organisation Self-Employed Women’s Association.

One of the major activities in nurseries, bag filling, is a tedious and expensive task. One had to use the scoop several times to fill one bag, thereby consuming time and involving extra labour. Khimjibhai’s meticulous observation of the process yielded a simple yet intelligent idea, which gave birth to ‘Kittanal’.

It is a hollow cylindrical piece of PVC pipe with one end slightly broadened and the other end cut at 45 degree to the axis. The tapered end is inserted into the polythene bag and held over the PVC tube and scooping the other end in the soil fills the bag in one scoop.

Though it looks a very ordinary device, it is highly effective in filling plastic bags with soil, which are used for growing saplings.
 

• Enables the labour to fill more number of bags thus helping them earn more wages.
• It makes the task easier and labour enthusiastic.
• Kittanal has won widespread accolades from different quarters, like the forest department of Gujarat, the paper and pulp industry major Ballarpur Industries and the Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organisation Self-Employed Women’s Association.
   

Innovator has declared this technology as a social technology & open for all.

Some of his other important innovations include a gum scrapper for collecting gum from trees; paniharino visamo, an apparatus to ease burden of rural women who carry pots on their head, and a sprayer to reduce pesticide wastage. His innovations won him the State Award in NIF’ Second National Competition for Grassroots Innovations and Traditional Knowledge in 2002.