Images: Traveljunkie888 and Thai Food Blog
Aspiring inventors take note: an Indian government department is offering one million rupees to the first person who can create a productive coconut-picking machine. The huge prize, equivalent to US$20,580, is being offered as a result of a steep decline in coconut palm climbers in the country.
The southern state of Kerala has worked hard to quell caste oppression, which is so often rife in India, but the result is that many young workers don’t want to do the manual, less glamorous jobs. The ancient caste system traditionally dictates what jobs people are born into, now with this effectively defunct in Kerala; the government have been forced to look at other ways to harvest coconuts in the region.
The Keralan industries department is now actively searching for the “most innovative idea to pluck coconuts while standing on the ground”. The industries minister Elamaram Kareem also added that the invention should be usable be everyone.
“It should be a simple method that can be used by women and even old people to pluck coconuts without climbing the tree. We call upon anyone to develop a product that can be used to pluck coconuts while standing on the ground. Anyone wanting to go ahead with this should submit a design and if it is approved, they will be given US$20,580 to develop it.”
So, get your thinking caps on and start designing your way out of debt.
Linda is a writer and editor who gave up life in London for a life Down Under, and more sunshine. She writes for Money Choices which does