Graduates of Don Bosco College of Engineering launch glass crushing machine business

(MissionNewswire) Two graduates of the Don Bosco College of Engineering, located in Fatorda in the Indian state of Goa, have successfully turned their academic project into the start-up business known as Jatvam Abhiyaantrix Private Limited. Shivdas Gaad and Rajat Halarnekar, working under the guidance of Professor Suraj Marathe, created the Glusher 1.0, a glass crusher that can turn glass into powder.

The glass crusher is capable of crushing bottles, tube lights, glass and more. The machine has a three-phase, 3HP motor that powers it. The operator feeds the scrap glass via the hopper, which crushes the glass. The powder is collected in the collection bag to minimize the physical handling. The machine has a glass crushing capacity of approximately 150 to 200 kg (330 to 440 pounds) per hour.

Gaad and Halarnekar were able to start their company with the help of Goa State Innovation Council and Don Bosco College of Engineering’s Forum for Innovation Incubation Research & Entrepreneurship (FiiRE). This department within the college has helped 75 startups over the last two years.

“FiiRE works in accordance with the guidelines of the Startup India policy, which aims to build a strong ecosystem that is conducive for start-up business growth, to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large-scale employment opportunities,” said DS Prashant, CEO of FiiRE. “This is achieved with an additional focus on innovation, product design and the core team that is driving the idea toward implementation.”

Access to professional training and workforce development services is highly valued by youth in India. The country, which is home to 1.34 billion people (18 percent of the world’s population), will have overtaken China as the world’s most populous country by 2024, according to the World Economic Forum. While India has the world’s largest youth population, it has yet to capitalize on this, leaving some 30 percent of this population without employment, education or training.

India has the world’s fourth largest economy but more than 22 percent of the country lives in poverty. About 31 percent of the world’s multidimensionally poor children live in India, according to a report by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.

India’s youth face a lack of educational opportunities due to issues of caste, class and gender. Almost 44 percent of the workforce is illiterate and less than 10 percent of the working-age population has completed a secondary education. In addition, many secondary school graduates do not have the knowledge and skills to compete in today’s changing job market.

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