Take for example the television set. It is an ordinary set. But Bapi Roy of Binodebati village in state’s Bankura district wants to set up reflectors so that the screen can be viewed from all four sides, says Anil K Gupta, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

Gupta took part in a “shodh yatra” (journey of search) in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district, Purulia and the Bankura district of West Bengal, looking for innovations made by people living in rural areas for eight days, starting from December 26.

In the course of his journey, which incidentally takes place every year in different districts of the country, he came upon Bapi Roy and his idea of viewing television from all sides.

Gupta, also an executive vice-chairman of the National Innovation Foundation, said, “The idea is worth recognition worldwide. We have already applied for intellectual property rights for the innovation.”

Gupta also came across Vijay Pramanik of Purulia district, who grew pumpkins and bottle gourd on the same plant. This would be researched further, he said.

The 900 innovations documented during the yatra also include the fishing rod, developed by Sanjay Karmatar of Kating in East Singbhum.