Ellora caves in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district and Kandwal village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district — what binds the two, you might wonder. Hemp, say architect Namrata Kandwal of Uttarakhand and her team, who have used a hemp mix in construction and made it to the top five at the recent Global Housing Technology Challenge-India. 

Namrata’s team has come up with building insulation material prepared by mixing hemp wood, lime and a variety of minerals. This is a mix very similar to what has been used in the Ellora caves, which date back to the 6th and 11th centuries AD, and the reason for its longevity, according to experts. 

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Global Housing Technology Challenge-India was organised by the Union ministry of housing and urban development and launched by prime minister Narendra Modi along with the Light House Project on January 1, this year. The prime minister launched six light house projects at different sites in the country, under the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India. These projects will fuse modern technology and innovative processes, bring down construction time and help in affordable housing for the economically underprivileged. The event was attended by more than 50 companies from across the world involved in innovative construction technologies.

Under the light house project, one thousand such houses are to be constructed in Agartala (Tripura), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu) within a year. 

Namrata, a resident of Kandwal village of Yamkeshwar block in Uttarakhand, about 350 kilometres from national capital Delhi, founded her start-up Gohemp Agro Ventures, which researches industrial hemp, with husband Gaurav Dixit and brother Deepak Kandwal. The company manufactures daily use products from the seeds and fibre of hemp.

“The entire hemp plant is of great use,” Namrata told Gaon Connection. “The oil from its seed is used to make medicine. Besides, it can also be used for making a lot of utility items. However, our team’s focus had been on making construction material out of it,” she added.

After a lot of research, the couple decided to use hemp as a source of employment for people living in the mountains. This would not only change the attitude of the people towards hemp [usually associated with cannabis and drugs] but also prevent migration to cities from mountain villages, they believed.  

“Uttarakhand can reduce its dependence on other states by creating building materials out of waste from hemp. This material is light, keeps the room cool in summer and warm during winter. When mixed with lime, it becomes fire resistant and is also antibacterial and antifungal,” Namrata told Gaon Connection.

Of late, the youth of Uttarakhand has taken a shine to the commercial usefulness of hemp. They also market hemp-based products online. “Hemp regulates moisture and reduces seepage. If combined with lime, it can last centuries. And, it also has the ability to absorb carbon dioxide and improves air quality inside the building,” Namrata claimed.

The couple visualises a future when new buildings in Uttarakhand are constructed from hemp, thereby increasing the income of hemp farmers in the state. “It will also facilitate proper waste management and the state’s money will remain within the state,” Namrata said. 

Under the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India, raw material that will give a thrust to conservation of non-renewable natural resources such as river sand, soil and water, and stop pollution generated by the construction sector, is encouraged.

Gohemp Agro Ventures also received the best entrepreneur award at the Asian Hemp Summit-2020 held in Nepal in January last year.

Read the story in Hindi.