You may spot him sitting in a corner of the electronics laboratory of the VG Women’ College here at the oddest of hours. For Y N Ravindra, the 37-year-old head of the Electronics Department, innovative electronics is as much an obsession as it is a mission.
Though only an MSc in Electronics, even research students seek him out for guidance despite their having their own well-qualified authorised guides. 
Though Mr Ravindra is closely associated with innumerable projects, you would be hard put to find his name in any official records. The latest from this rare innovator is the Farm Irrigation System Controller through GSM (Global System for Mobile) Network. The system works on communication through radio frequency involving two cellular phones.
Though remote-controlled irrigation pump sets using radio frequency is an old hat, they have very limited range.
But the cellular network has unlimited range. Even if you are in Bangalore you can start your IP set on your farm in a remote hamlet in Gulbarga by just giving a missed call to the mobile set fitted to the pump! The only requirement: the farm area should have access to the GSM network.
“It’s very cost-effective, just a couple of thousand rupees excluding the two handsets. The handset fitted to the pump is assigned a particular number and its owner alone can operate it,’’ says Ravindra. This project has been prepared for the final-year BE students of Appa Engineering Institute. Says a student  Susheel, “We go to Ravindran sir because he alone can guide us.”
If the GSM technology developed by Ravindra is taken to farms, it could even relieve farmers from some of the laborious manual operations involved in the irrigation system.
So, isn’t it about time this unsung hero got his just place under the sun?