Improved Pottery Kiln : A Bundelkhand Initiative

Satish Pawar     satishm_2002@yahoo.co.in       & Rajesh Bakpai     energy_raj@yahoo.com

Among the ten major artisan groups in India, potters comprise the fourth largest and second poorest group, with an estimated ten lakhs people directly or indirectly involved in this vocation. Despite the existence of a stable and consistent demand for a narrow range of pottery ware, these traditional potters are in a deep crisis due to the severe competition from industrial products like plastics and aluminium goods.

They are unable to meet this challenge since there has been a drastic depletion of raw materials as suitable clay becomes more and more scarce, while there is no innovation or upgradation of their skills and technologies. The shrinking market for traditional wares threatened the livelihoods of the artisans whose skills were very limited.

Bundelkhand (14 districts, 1200 villages) and Datia (Badoni village) are the two regions adopted for the pottery kiln technology dissemination. Presently, all the villagers use the conventional firing method for firing their pots. The fuel they are using is mainly dung cakes and small branches of dried wood. Pipra and Datia have relatively large kilns, with a typical pottery kiln being a pit,6-7 feet deep and about 25 feet in diameter. In the Niwari cluster, the kilns are very shallow and the wares are in small lots. Wares are even fired in a 5-6 feet patch in front of the potter’s house.

In traditional firing, the consumption of fuel is very high. In traditional kilns, the fuel and the green wares are stacked in layers and then ignited.

The fuel used for firing the wares is cow dung cake, paddy straw and small twigs. In deeper kilns in Datia sector, firing takes about one to two days and in the Niwari cluster, where the number of wares fired in a batch is small, firing takes a single day. Each firing in the large kiln requires 5000 dung cakes and two bags of paddy straw (100 dung cakes cost Rs.50 and paddy straw costs Rs.30).

The kilns to fire pottery wares were one of the challenging products we adopted under the SHELL Project. Potters use these kilns to bake pots of different size and shape. Improved pottery kilns were taken up for dissemination under the project. For several reasons, the new kiln would offer considerable advantages over the conventional kiln. An Improved kiln would add to the profits of the artisans by saving in terms of the fuel cost and reduction in the percentage of breakages. It is less accident-prone, because of the closed firing method and it uses less manpower while in operation.

Pottery kilns would have a universal appeal, as firing of pots is not confined to any specific season or cluster.

It is important to understand the traditional method of firing of wares, because the use of an improved kiln would require that the potter deviates significantly from this conventional practice. Improved pottery kilns offer reduction in the cost of fuel as well as a considerable reduction in the percentage of breakages , which results in an improved profitability in the pottery firing operation.

Improved pottery kilns installed in the Karnataka have shown a 30% reduction in fuel consumption over the traditional kiln, but this percentage may differ in the Bundelkhand region. Improved kiln would also reduce the firing time from the current days having a positive impact on the productivity of the operation.

The atmosphere in the vicinity of the kiln is much cleaner due to its environment friendly system of operation.

The improved kiln designs are currently available in two sizes, which are - 80 cubic feet and 180 cubic feet.

Results of Pottery Firing at Datia

   Material Required for the Construction of 180-cft Kiln
Particulars Improved Kiln Traditional Kiln   Sl. No. Raw Material Capacity

No. of pots

150 nos.

150. nos.

   1.

Red Bricks

4,400 nos.

Dung cakes

1300 nos.

1800

   2.

Soil

180 cft.

Baked

134 nos.

98 nos.

   3.

Sand

80 cft.

Unbaked

7 nos.

38 nos.

   4.

Cement (53 grade or 43 grade or portland cement)

5 bags

Over baked

none

none

   5.

M S Rod 10 mm Dia

75 ft.

Broken

9 nos.

14 nos.

   6.

G I Wire

2 kg.

The kiln consists of two chambers separated by a brick vault construction with gaps to withstand high temperature and to bear the load of the wares. Fuel is burnt in the lower chamber and the wares are stacked in the upper chamber.

Advantages of Improved Pottery Kiln
Ø safety
Ø convenience / ease
Ø cleanliness
Ø less polluting (apparent)
Ø less laborious (arrangement, firing)
Ø storage for baked pots when kiln is not in use
Ø can fire during intermittent rains

The volumetric ratio between the lower combustion chamber, and the upper chamber where wares are loaded, is 1:1.3 to maximize the capacity of the kiln and also facilitate a good draft. Metal clamps are fitted to the external wall of the kiln to enable it to withstand the thermal expansion.  q

Being born again – the first sight of water in the desert !!

"…we have been born again.." exclaimed Raku, a member of the Community Water Committee at the end of well testing in Kolu Rathoda in Rajasthan. Good quality, potable water in such large volumes is indeed equivalent to being born again – this time without the drudgery of carrying water in pots over an average distance of five to seven kilometers".

The Water and Energy Centres in desert
areas of India – pilot project" supported by DIE WUSTE LEBT – WASSER FUR ALLE (DWL), a Swiss NGO targets a total of about 360 families in two remote villages in Rajasthan. The project is being implemented by Urmul Marusthali Bunkar Vikas Samiti (UMBVS) and managed by Development Alternatives (DA). The project is based on the use of the potential of water veins as long term, reliable and environment friendly source of potable water.

DWL has long standing international experience in tapping water veins as a reliable source of potable water and has thus committed itself to promoting the use of "water veins" for improving the access to potable water for vulnerable communities "to build up a long term foundation for life."

A preliminary internet search indicates that water veins under the earth have a strong potential to meet the need of the growing populations across the world. Particularly in the case of water stressed areas, water veins hold the key to revival of life and livelihood. According to an unpublished document by DWL, ‘Serving people with water: A short introduction’, "…talking about a system of underground water veins that always are under a certain pressure and deliver all year long the same quantity of water means leaving today’s scientific order. But finally we have to consider the results! How is it otherwise possible that on a tiny Philippine island (300 x 400 m) at a depth of app. 60 m a source with a constant flow of 500 l/min. was opened up? How is it possible that the water on hilltops is closest to the surface? The whole system can’t be explained in a few sentences and we must concentrate on the results and with such a high success rate we are out of coincidence."

The pilot project has been initiated in Jodhpur District of the State of Rajasthan in India for demonstration and initiating further interventions in India. For demonstration, two remote villages within Phalodi Block of Jodhpur district have been targeted and one drilling at each location was successfully carried out under the supervision of Hans Anton Rieder: the Water seeker at DWL during June 2004.

Focus group discussions have resulted in clear decisions on the form and nature of community management structures for maintenance of the proposed water system and management of water distribution in both the villages. Community Water Committees comprising of 11 members: five men, five women and a representative from UMBVS, have been instituted. The committees will be headed by a President, a Secretary and a treasurer through a consensus based process. The Water Committees have formal rules for managing the water fund and operation and maintenance of the systems in the future.

Both the wells are at the moment yielding an average of 400-500 litres per minute of water. This has not only provided much relief to the communities in the recent dry spells, they are also nurturing a small nursery to undertake large scale community plantation in September.

Meanwhile an elaborate water distribution system is being laid out for providing water to the villagers close to their homes. The process of bringing life to the desert gores on…! q


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