Telangana is home to many inspiring innovators who have fought against all odds to create significant impact on their local communities. However, most of them go unnoticed. It is time to celebrate the stories of these grassroots innovators who have come up with innovative solutions to ease the nagging pain of a common man. These innovators are problem solvers who were driven to solve the unnoticed yet pressing issues of rural Telangana. With the “100 days of innovation campaign”, we wish to highlight such stories. This campaign aims to reach every part of Telangana and make innovation a colloquial term even in remotest of the districts.

Chintakindi Mallesham, a grassroots innovator from Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri, received Padma Shri for his contributions to revive weavers’ community of Pochampally. He invented a machine called the Asu machine which revolutionized the productivity of weavers, decreasing weaving time by a whopping 75%. He was a class VI dropout with no prior technical or engineering knowledge; however, that did not stop him from first learning English and then the technical skills needed to invent the Asu machine to reduce suffering of handloom weavers. Mallesham’s story is an extraordinary example of tenacity and has been rightfully celebrated. There are many such innovators living unrecognized in rural villages of Telangana and we need to introduce them to the world through this “100 days of innovation campaign”.

Celebrating the journeys of these innovators will also inspire confidence in many budding grassroots innovators, making them realize that innovation is no rocket science and that they could become the next Mallesham.