Gadyal Exclusive
True talent has no horizons.The same had been proven once again when Refaz and Ishfaq, sons of a rural labourer in Kashmir, got their 9 inventions patented and 27 more await. 24 years old Refaz and Ishfaq are identical twins.Apart from dressing alike and sharing common hobbies they also have a genius in common. Beautifully landscaped, a macadamized road leads to the village Wandewelgam, situated 85 km away from the city of Srinagar where reside the “Creative twins of India”. The twins belong to a very humble background.
As mentioned by Refaz, their first innovation was inspired from an earthmover, which they saw for the very first time in their village. The villagers were amused of the massive machine. Refaz and Ishfaq pondered upon it and finally made a make shift version of the earthmover. This was manually operated and was able to do work of two labourers, saving time and efforts.
In the year 2010, the brothers came across Mr. GM Bhatt, a professor from Kashmir University.Amazed by the remarkable innovations of the kids,professor Bhatt suggested them to participate in the Central government’s “Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)”, an innovative programme sponsored and managed by the Department of Science & Technology.
In the year 2011, the twins participated at the national level of All India Ignite competitions held at National Innovation Foundation (NIF), Ahmedabad. A total of 15 innovations were submitted by the twins and out of which “The foldable water bottle” was awarded as the best. They said that the bottle is adjustable in size, fits in pocket and has separate compartments of adjustable size to carry different fluid. It is simple in design but has great usage.
The name “Creative Twins of India” was given to them by Late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the former president of India. Refaz says that meeting Dr Kalam was the turning point of their life. Dr Abdul Kalam suggested them to pursue education in science.
Refaz and Ishfaq were awarded in Canada in the year 2012. Subsequently in the year 2013 and 2014 the twins bagged national awards for the innovations.
The duo has created more than 36 wonderful devices which include an apple catcher, a ladder for multi fruit collection, machine that serves food automatically and a manual washing cum drying machine.The brothers have also innovated a ‘spade and hoe’, a heat conserving utensil, an injection breaker, engine parts for vehicles, a cow urine collection device, a walnut collation instrument and an apple grading device, to name a few.
Recently the duo has been awarded with the gold medal at 6th Istanbul International Invention for ISIF 21 in Turkey and they claim to have more than 500 new innovative designs written down, which would be worked upon in future.
The brothers have set up two start-ups namely Agro Tech Plant and Wani Agro Tech, incubated by the Punjab Technical University where they studied. Looking at the potential of domestic usage of their two innovations i.e “The Apple Cutter” and “ The Spade Cum Hoe”, they have planned large scale production of the same.
