in search of new meanings: shodhyatra in punjab

in search of new meanings: shodhyatra in punjabin Punjab, jalandhar, 32nd shodhyatra

for walking in search of 
schools where inspired teachers intrigue children with mysteries of nature, villages where female foetus does not struggle to survive, soil of farms which does not get poisoned by the toxic chemicals just because she is tired, farmers who still maintain diversity of coloured cotton, yellow mustard and nutritious wheat, workshops inwhich mechanics innovate to develop new machineries for farm or firms, paths on which elderly walk with respect and head raised high

we are in search of all that is worth sustaining
all that is worth remembering
so that stories we tell our grandchildren
are full of faith
hopes
trust
commitment to community well being
and youth who will connect with unmet social needs worldwide
meeting at PTU today at 11 to link tech youth with real life challenges of our society

isnt it nice that most tech innovation competitions in india borrow nominations from among those first scouted and awarded by Techpedia.in at sristi?

isnt it nice that most tech innovation competitions in india borrow nominations from among those first scouted and awarded by Techpedia.in at sristi?

32nd Shodhyatra in jalandhar

32nd Shodhyatra in jalandhar

32nd shodhyatra in punjab http://www.sristi.org/cms/32ndshodhyatra

We are trying to pursue following goals during the 32nd shodhyatra:

a) recognise the selfless volunteers, community members and other
functionaries in different field of social action such as education,
technology, agriculture, biodiversity conservation, pollution control,
nature conservation, looking after elderly and sanitation etc.,

b) we are particularly keen to respect and touch feet of hundred year old grand mothers and fathers to convey our respect for centenarians, learn
from the lessons of their life and convey that they are *devtulya*

c) recognise students from local engg colleges and polytechnics who have done meaningful projects trying to address problems of society

d) we will also share non-chemical means of solving agricultural problems, and try to learn from local experiments in various facets of agriculture,
livestock care, horticulture and other means of rural livelihood '

e) if some communities have taken extraordinary steps for women security, care, respect, we will like to recognise them too ( Child sex ratio of Jalandhar district is 874 females per 1000 males.
http://www.census2011.co.in/questions/590/district-child-sexratio/child-sex-ratio-of-jalandhar-district-2011.htm
l)

f) idea is to encourage linkage between local knowledge and formal R and D Institutions so that knowledge economy at grassroots level gets a real boost

pl do help us in locating the selfless souls in rural and urban areas which deserve to be recognised in various social sectors so that a positive energy is unleashed, challenges like cleaning Kal ben river by like Sant Seenchwal ji become possible in more and more domains. as an outsider we can do little, but we can underline the positive energy of our society and hope that it will have ripple effect.

32nd Shodh Yatra Punjab, 28th December, 2013 to 2nd January, 2014 | SRISTI

Rashtrapati Bhavan opens its door for artists, writers - The Hindu

Rashtrapati Bhavan opens its door for artists, writers - The Hindu

he artists, writers and innovators will stay in the recently refurbished Guest House in the Estate.

The programme for ‘Innovation Scholars’ in residence aims to provide further impetus to grassroots innovation. “The Rashtrapati Bhavan organises an exhibition of grassroots innovation every year during the time of opening of the Mughal Gardens. The President gives awards for grassroots innovations biennially. He has also been asking Central Universities and IITs/NITs to set up Innovation Clubs.

Under this new scheme, four ‘Innovation Scholars would be invited to stay in Rashtrapati Bhavan for a month. They would be provided an environment to work on projects in hand or take innovative ideas forward. They will also be assisted in establishing linkages with relevant institutions and provided mentoring and support,” said Mr. Rajamony giving details of the programme.

The President also launched smart ID cards for the residents of the Estate. These cards with biometric information will enable easy identification of residents without compromising on security.

Keywords: Rashtrapati Bhavan, Pranab Mukherjee, Rashtrapati Bhavan programme for artists and writers

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Lighting the life of the Children: educational innovations by teachers

Lighting the life of the Children: educational innovations by teachers

http://www.youtube.com/v/K1BylYuLaeo?autohide=1&version=3&attribution_tag=-f82J_D7KWJZl_n_RLCczg&autohide=1&showinfo=1&feature=share&autoplay=1

Prof Anil Gupta on Grassroots Innovation at Manthan Samvaad 2013

http://www.youtube.com/v/K1BylYuLaeo?autohide=1&version=3&attribution_tag=-f82J_D7KWJZl_n_RLCczg&autohide=1&showinfo=1&feature=share&autoplay=1

Prof Anil Gupta on Grassroots Innovation at Manthan Samvaad 2013

Can the mind of bureaucracy be reformatted?

Can the mind of bureaucracy be reformatted?

why should start-ups based on innovations by youth suffer so much in the decade of innovation

why should start-ups based on innovations by youth suffer so much in the decade of innovation

why should start-ups suffer so much in decade of innovation

During last two years, despite umpteen rounds of discussion, it was realized that the new India Inclusive Innovation Fund ( IIIF) would only invest in existing companies which were engaged in innovative products and services for serving poor people. No doubt, the poor people need to be served and the for-profit-companies already in market need funds for the purpose. The question really is whether their needs can be met through existing equity funds or commercial banks and if not, why not? should public funds be used to crowd out the private venture/impact investment funds for the purpose? Interestingly enough, almost entire money for the purpose has been raised through budgetary provisions and contributions by commercial banks and other public financial institutions. Assume that this is a worthy cause and country has enough funds to invest in such companies(either to give a profitable exit option to existing investors who may not be getting sufficient returns or to scale  up the investments).  Can one thus argue that the inventors or innovators from professional colleges or other institutions or even unattached individuals with professional degrees or history of experience with organized sector (all the categories which make them ineligible for support from National Innovation Foundation) having a socially relevant proof-of-concept don’t deserve public support?

If existing companies making profit have difficulty in raising private venture capital( as assumed in IIIF), will start-up generally run by young people not have even more difficulties? Will the eco-system for innovation really be enriched if companies making profit are given cheap finance but start-ups are left to struggle and die? what kind of compassion and inclusion such an attitude shows towards encouraging creative and socially sensitive youth in an otherwise youthful country? Should state intervene at the least risky stage of the innovation value chain or at the early stage when private investors will not even touch such ideas. The fact that hardly any Gandhian Young Technological award winner ( see sristi's techepdia.in/award) could manage to attract private so called angel fund or risk capital or financial support for taking the proof -of-concept to prototype and prototype to product, and product to utility level shows how serious is the situation. We all know that deficiency of VIT 12 has become a problem of almost epidemic proportion. The current test not only costs a lot but also takes 24 hours. A young graduate from CFTRI has developed a test, which helps in identifying the deficiency in 15 minutes. Does this technology not deserve an urgent support? Is it not relevant particularly for vegetarian people who suffer form this problem more often particularly among the lower income classes?

If a young student  has developed a device which makes the drudgery of coolies at railway stations and elsewhere lesser and improves their efficiency, then should that not be scaled up right away? If a group of students have developed a portable spectrophotometer which can help in testing water quality and mineral composition at low cost, then who will invest in their idea? In a country where sixty per cent diseases are water borne, should innovations by young people even in this space have to wait for years and months before being given any attention?

The youth of this country can easily see the obvious injustice in the policy of denying any funding mechanism for their socially useful ideas for serving poor people. Abortion of majority of the ideas, which can make a difference to the lives of the economically poor before they reach commercialization stage is a great tragedy of our times. I am sure that government is not insensitive to these concerns. Hopefully sooner than later, an appropriate policy response will emerge which will truly make the innovation ecosystem inclusive and integrated. Till then, i am sorry to say that innovative youth have to silently suffer, and struggle on their own. Cabinet committee which will process the fund proposal should at least spend five minutes to answer the questions raised here and then if they are also convinced that argument made here stands no ground, then i suppose young people have to judge alternative ways of articulating their pain. Or wait till better morals prevail. Things will certainly change some day.

Who is an authentic professional: responsibility of a professional in a public project

Who is an authentic professional: responsibility of a professional in a public project

debate in DNA today on the issue of responsibility of a professional in a public project. should society demand greater accountability from all professionals? is there a crisis of credibility: should professional societies redefine the  norms of a good professional practice?

Circular economy is booming when ‘take, make, faink’ is slowing down

Circular economy is booming when ‘take, make, faink’ is slowing down: http://creativityatgrassroots.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/circular-economy-is-booming-when-take-make-faink-is-slowing-down/When economic conditions are tight, one has to invent new ways of creating opportunities for a whole new generation of entrepreneurs

Circular economy is booming when ‘take, make, faink’ is slowing down

Posted on July 14, 2013 by CREATIVITYATGRASSROOTSLeave a comment

This is for the first time in the history of industrial economic development, green business ( blue economy) which looks at both biological and non biological feedback systems to be sustainable (cradle to cradle approach compatible with industrial ecology framework) seems to be doing much better than the linear, ‘take, make, faink (dispose)’ economy. During the last five years, circular economy generated 100 bn pounds of growth in UK while the rest of the economy was in dumps. What does it mean for India? We need to stop learning from the dominant industrial model which treats externality as a problem of government, society at large and even nature.

It is not surprising that grassroots innovations invariably use recycled parts in designing various solutions,  and not surprisingly  they fail to meet the regulator’s outdated parameters of certification. While talking at different fora recently, I made several suggestions which can give  fillip to circular economy such as:

A.      We should urgently take up the reform of regulatory and approval  systems such as transport so that vehicles, farm machinery like santi, handiyo, and other improvements using old parts can be tested and approved for road worthiness. The same would apply to many other domains where second hand parts  are used.

B.      Imagine Indian economy without a distributed repair and service economy. No other country might get more out of any product or service than India. Yet, where are the skill development courses which focus on reduce, recycle, reuse, and what I call rejuvenation. Different components of any machine, say an airplane, fatigue at different rates and thus have different functional lifes. The airplane may be junked in about 25 years but the plane’s seat may have a life of two hundred years. Why should these chairs not be refurbished and sold as household furniture. This is what Lufthansa did. The policy implication is that different components should have a fatigue factor marked on them and there should be an actively induced rejuvenation policy of these long lasting components. Devices having second hand parts should be tested of course like any other device and then encouraged if found fit, which is likely.

C.      There should be local, regional, national and global waste exchanges with all the characteristic properties and then awards announced for finding  new applications for the same to reduce environmental complications. Platforms like Techpedia.in can play an active role.

D.      Special funds should be created to invigorate a circular economy at decentralised level. It will help not only to generate environmentally positive outcomes but also to generate more enterprises and in turn jobs. Alongside the District Innovation Fund, we should create in each district, a social and environmental fund. If a government has money to subsidise food for wealthy people, they certainly have funds to promote social, environmental and economic start ups in each district.

E.       Local language databases of used parts of different kind must be made available at each ICT kiosk and with mobile apps to every mobile user so that the circular economy can get a boost and right away.

F.       The invigoration of the informal economy will take place in a big way when rural and semi-urban mechanics and roadside urban mechanics will know about a whole range of components available for reconstitution, reassembly, redesign and rejuvenation. The students of  IITs and  polytechnics can do tagging and characterisation of these components and make the databases more interactive and informative.

G.     When economic conditions are tight, one has to invent new ways of creating opportunities for a whole new generation of entrepreneurs. These waste, component, tool and devices exchanges will fertilise the imagination of the younger generation. The India Inclusive Innovation Fund will of course ignore all such opportunities but hopefully some empathetic leaders in the public and private sector will see the potential of the circular economy.

H.      Patents both live and expired, relating to these components and waste materials, will be pooled and used to annotate the entries in the databases.

I hope that the circular economy will forge new kinds of partnerships between formal and informal sectors and create new entrepreneurial pathways of socially inclusive development.

ramadan may be blissful

ramadan may be blissful to all those who already have compassion in heart or are looking for it, be kind, forgiving and accommodative of the differences, or disputes that can be transformed into opportunities for navigating inner silence

should we give our family name to children?

Decades ago when it was time to give names to our children, we decided not to give our family name to them. I did not know whether i would have any influence at all in life. But i/we were to have, i/we did not want our children to have any advantage of it. Children have sort of liked it. I thus agree that more and more young people should stop using caste identification in their name. 

in this context, it is a welcome intervention of Allahabad high court questioning the legitimacy of caste based mobilization, a very controversial foray of judiciary. But a well intentioned one ...

four ways of learning from and for innovation

http://creativityatgrassroots.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/four-ways-of-learning-for-innovation/

The exchange of knowledge between formal and informal sector can take place at different levels of abstraction:

The most basic level is the artefactual level, i.e. adaptation of form, features, and functions of a product, process, service or institutional design.

The next level is the analogic/metaphorical level implying learning by approximation. Not the exact concept but its derivation in some form or function is drawn upon. For instance bio-mimicry has been applied for self-cleaning surfaces like the lotus leaf.

Learning can also take place through heuristics/principles underlying an innovation. This kind of rule of thumb learning can be used in far wider domains. For example, any plant that is not eaten by cattle or other animals could be a potential source of herbal pesticides.

On a gestalt/configurational level, learning requires looking at a combination of factors responsible for an innovative situation. Such factors could be technological building blocks, institutional arrangements and cultural values. In some parts of the world, people make a bridge by joining roots of the trees growing on two sides of the river. This technology of bridge making requires collective action in the local cultural context. Learning on this level requires a unique combination of different factors contributing to a viable solution.

There are many gaps in our social, institutional and cultural context due to policy or procedural inadequacies. Sometimes, these gaps are also caused by absence of appropriate innovations. Another reason for these gaps could be our inability to adapt frugal solutions available elsewhere in the world to our needs. When these solutions emerge in the informal sector and through the efforts of common people, the barriers to learning from them become even stronger.

Challenge:

Take any one local unmet social or institutional need e.g. with regard to the elderly, children, disabled, unemployed) and try to come up with innovative solutions using one or a combination of the four ways of learning. In case you have another way of learning, you are welcome to use that so long as it helps to find innovative solutions.

Inovation Clubs in all universities, colleges and polytechnics: 

President of India's mission to set up National Innovation Club ( presidentofindia.nic.in/sp070313-1.html ) in each central university finds new scale up in Karnataka. Congratulations

Siddaramaiah ( CM, Karnataka) proposed establishment of Digital Knowledge Centres in public libraries. He also wanted 'innovation clubs in all universities, colleges and polytechnics.'

Read more at: http://news.oneindia.in/2013/07/12/no-big-ticket-incentives-for-it-in-siddaramaiah-budget-1258264.html
http://dce.kar.nic.in/Files%20NRR/Genenral/Openenig%20of%20Innovation%20Clubs%20at%20Colleges.PDF

The government also proposed to set up incubation centres for ICT sector in collaboration with engineering colleges in selected district headquarters to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in this sector.

Read more at: http://news.oneindia.in/2013/07/12/no-big-ticket-incentives-for-it-in-siddaramaiah-budget-1258264.html

reducing knowledge to feeling and feeling to action

Knowledge,feeling and doing

How do we reconcile the deeply angular inverted pyramid of a vast knowledge base, but only little of it evoking feeling and still lesser coercing us to act, do some thing about realising the potential of those feelings.

It is true that none of us can really  act on all the feelings we have about all the issues on which we accumulate knowledge about. Sanity demands constricting the scope of concerns on which we can focus, invest emotions in and be responsible for. But then how much denudation should take place on the forest of knowledge before we get alarmed and feel compelled to take action determines the boundary of our persona.

Action could also be no action. We decide not to act on a large number of feelings and we also decide not to feel about a lot of issues which lie within the domain of our valid concerns.

The filter we use to define the relevance of Knowledge or awareness of that knowledge ( conscious inventory of concerns) determines how our feelings evolve. The topography of feelings then get influenced by our filter of what I can or not do without doing something about them.
Social inertia, individual silence and indifference,  and dilemma with in a person's inner corridor of conscience  determine the extent to which I feel responsible to take action.

ENTIRE mobilisational  potential of social and personal action depends upon the way these two filers of knowledge to feeling and feeling to action work.

dealing with disaster: when shall we start learning from them

dealing with disaster: when shall we start learning from them: if after so mamy deaths, we dont learn and change the policies for dealing with natural disasters, when will we ever do?

Devastating floods in uttrakhand once again draw our attention to the gross negligence we commit towards preparing better to deal with such tragedies. The state administration must be complimented for evacuating more than fifty thousand people already to safer places. They need all the support. But we must also learn from such disasters to prevent or minimise the loss of life and property and of course the environment. What are the immediate lessons: a) when rains started, forewarning to pilgrims at lower elevation not to proceed further was not issued. This led a lot of yatris travellers to move ahead and getting stuck. The local communities helped the stranded people a lot but they have not been trained to do this better. c) the habitations on the river banks without any protection from the fury of floods were completely avoidable. Norms for river bank strengthening must be developed and construction too close to the banks must not be allowed. D) A lot of people are stranded, a lot more have lost all that they had, and many more are buried under debris. Learning from 2001 earthquake, inventory of concrete cutting tools, technologies and lessons are still not pooled at one place. Given the hope of life underneath, one has to avoid gas cutters. Iit Roorkee can help as also cbri and other IITs. A mission must be mounted to deal with such eventualities better in future. E) Lessons from disaster management are seldom pooled and made available in local language for wider reference. This is a long pending issue. F) Climate change, fluctuations and impacts will become more severe in days to Come. How many institutions, communities, public and private bodies have disaster management drills regularly? To what extent the resilience of the society at large increased in the last decade ? Where is the national action plant to do so? G) We need to mobiles all support for affected people and let us contribute generously to such a cause. We will share the contacts of local relief teams soon so that those interested can contact them directly. Pl pray that no affected victim of this fury of nature remains without relief or rehabilitation

deep red
pale hope
oh hullo

thirty first shodhyatra wardha maharshtra may 5-12, 2013

thirty first shodhyatra wardha maharshtra may 5-12, 2013: we will walk through the village sin dry land sof wardha parts of which are reeling under drought and parts are using water to grow sugarcane, we will share what we know and learn from local creativity, institutions and knowledge systems. any body desirous of sharing ideas and links of creative communities and individuals may pl do so so soonest

Clubfoot Orthosis

Clubfoot Orthosis: Clubfoot often technically referred to as \'congenital talipes equino varus\' (CTEV) is the complex foot deformity which is present from birth and causes one or both feet of the new born baby to be twisted along three axes from ankle. If the clubfeet are not treated in infancy, the persons will have

SHE- Society Harnessing Equipment

SHE- Society Harnessing Equipment: The project aims at the integral part of the society –“SHE” Who is the creator of this world, who burns herself to enlighten her whole house, She who cares ,loves and nurtures the manhood, but in return she is sentenced to molestation, devastation and ruthless killing , the she here i

Nanofinishing of Freeform Surfaces of Prosthesis Knee Joint Implants

Nanofinishing of Freeform Surfaces of Prosthesis Knee Joint Implants: The components having freeform surfaces have been widely used in aerospace, automobile, medical, consumer products and die/mold industries. Many of these components require nanometer surface roughness to meet specific requirements in their application domain. As the complexity of the surface increas

Re-innovation in government:  Competitive accountability

The demand for greater accountability of public systems is becoming more and more eloquent all over the country.  Strangely and may be not so strangely, in a state with a political instability, some of the most interesting reforms have taken place.  I am not suggesting that political stability reduces the incentives for bureaucracy to experiment and innovate.  But, in the event of secure constituency, the leaders may have less pressure to perform.  May be, a  little bit of instability is not bad.  Let me illustrate.  

The Sakala scheme of public accountability in Karnataka seems to have created a new global benchmark in raising expectation of the people and then meeting them in almost 98 per cent of the cases.  More than 1.75 crore requests for different services were met within the time promised and with full satisfaction of the people.  There were hardly 500 complaints in an interface of this scale.  How did a state government do it?  And why wouldn’t people all over the country  expect similar efficiency in providing public services in a transparent and accountable manner?  Just about five officers achieved this breakthrough by applying IT tools and training the staff dealing with 256 services.  The staff union not only cooperated with the administration but in fact enthusiastically supported the scheme.  It was insisted that people while submitting a request for a service provide their mobile number.  Likewise, the mobile number of all the functionaries were also fed into the system.  If a particular certificate or copy of a property record was to be provided within seven days, then the concerned officer would receive a reminder in the morning about the pending cases.  And again would receive a message in the evening about the cases disposed and balance to be completed.  The people will get a message when their job was done.  One might suspect that other departments dealing with 1600 more services might like to avoid coming under pressure of such a high performance expectation.  But as the chief secretary, Mr. Ranganathan explained, several departments not covered so far were vying with each other to be included in this scheme.  

Why were different departments competing with each other to become more and more accountable?  There was a small fine of `.20 to be deducted from the personal salary of the concerned staff who delayed a particular request by a day.  Issue was not just the amount but the stigma that it was perceived to attach.  As if results were not sufficient guarantee of performance,  IIM Bangalore was requested to evaluate the performance every month.  What would be the motivation for Shalini Goel, the secretary in charge of the Sakala scheme to constrain herself through such institutional arrangements of accountability?  Wouldn’t it be easy to have a compliant academic institution to give a good report rather than entrust one of the most reputed institution to do the performance audit concurrently?  A new idiom of accountability is emerging in the country.  Excellence, efficiency, empathy, and equity in provision of services makes the entire chain of administrators feel good about themselves.  Swantah Sukhay, for one’s own inner happiness seems to be the most sustainable intrinsic motivation for bringing about social or professional change.   

The cabinet secretariat organized a meeting of more than 70 departments of Govt. of India to identify the framework conditions that will generate innovations in the government.  My submission at the meeting was that by all means, we should generate new innovations.  But, if we do not track the existing innovations,  wouldn’t a valuable opportunity have been lost?  How many people recall that each one of us had to stand in the queue to pay road tax of our vehicle every year?  And then one day a Transport Commissioner recognized that three fourth of the revenue came from one fourth of the people, whereas the queue is comprised the other three fourth of the people a well.  He started a scheme for payment of tax for three to five years at one go.  Today we pay, lifetime tax only once.  What a relief.  All because of one person sticking his neck out.  Similarly, auto emission checks, when introduced first time, were opposed by the automobile manufacturers.  Today, it is not only obligatory but it is also complied by most people.  There are a large number of experiments being done in the government by well-meaning officials who want to make a difference.  Wouldn’t it be worthwhile to track such innovations, replicate them by adapting the same to local conditions and improve the citizen satisfaction with the services of the state.  People of this country deserve the best.  And they are now realizing that it is they who are partly responsible for the continued apathy of the system by not desiring it and asserting their desire.  Accountability, accessibility and affordability are the three fulcra on which design of future delivery and demand systems would be balanced.  Hope that the inertia and resilience of the administrative system will give way to innovation and inclusion.  

Excellence, relevance, frugality and empathy: Young Gandhian Innovators

Excellence, relevance, frugality and empathy: Young Gandhian Innovators

While appreciating the contributions of young technology students invited to showcase their innovations at the second Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards recently at IIMA, Ms. Ela Bhatt, Founder of SEWA expected the youth to spread the Gandhian philosophy through their action. A large number of innovations recognised on the occasion were empathetic in nature.  The problem of a line man worried about electrocution, challenges of a blind person, an unsafe woman, drudgery from scaling of fish, the need for a reminder system for pregnant women, a patient tracking system, energy from poultry waste, or a head load carrier, are just some of the triggers for innovative solutions shared by the student teams. There are many examples were students make a trade-off between career oriented projects and a socially relevant project. A new interpretation of Gandhian values is necessary and Elaben felt that the young boys and girls are imbued with the spirit of keeping solutions simple, frugal, socially relevant and sustainable. There are also solutions that push the technological edge.  Dr. Mashelkar was unequivocal in his appreciation of the students practicing the spirit of MLM [More from Less for Many]. Instead of value for money, he stressed that the challenge is to produce value for many.  Dr. Gopi Katragadda, MD, GE India Technology Centre appreciated the range of innovations explored by the students and particularly underlined the importance of medical devices and diagnostics. Students have developed silk fibre based bio material to solve the problem of lower back pain, a device to fix clubfoot orthosis, a device that provides vision for the blind using ultrasonic senses, nano finishing of freeform surfaces of prosthesis knee joint implants, prognosis of diabetes based on non-invasive estimation using infra-red thermography, instant vitamin B 12 diagnosis, electronic support for deaf and dumb, etc.  Many other technologies impressed for having solved a problem in an effective manner such as rubber-nano composites, an old saree cutting machine for weaving mats on handlooms, a robotic dredger for cleaning lakes, a memory aid for old people, a niosome based drug delivery system for tuberculosis, a self-cleaning functional molecular material, a semi-automatic rubber tapping machine, a high performance cooking stove, a cell phone for blind people, a laser ignited internal combustion engine, a cow dung based microbial fuel cell, a jute bag making machine, bamboo epoxy, a digital pen which can write on any surface except glossy surfaces, a filter for sub/micron particles from fluids, a device to estimate mineral composition of water through a portable spectrophotometer, and many other projects. 

Ninety three young people comprising 21 awardee teams and 22 appreciated innovations from all over the country demonstrated how excellence could be combined with what Dr. Mashelkar underlined as relevance. See more awards at www.techpedia.in/award/

There is urgent need for a fund to take these ideas of the students forward.  The so-called India Inclusive Fund ignores all the early stages of nascent ideas of youth, professionals and of course the informal sector. Only in India, such an indifference can take place without causing any prick on the conscience of the planners. But, things will change. A young country cannot ignore the innovations by the youth too long. Hiranmay and his team of volunteers managed a very complex process of scouting, documentation, screening and logistics of participation in a joyful and collegial manner.  Prof. Ganesh and his students at IIT Bombay helped in the review process involving a very large number of institutions and experts in the public and private sector in India and abroad. The support from unnamed volunteers from all the institutions of the Honey Bee Network has made it possible for SRISTI to assure continued recognition to the young innovators. Dr. Akshai Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Technical University, inducted 12 grassroots innovators from the state as visiting faculty of the university. Innovators felt highly empowered and charged that they can imbue the young generation with lessons of their lives about frugality and social connectedness. I hope other technical universities will take a cue and replicate this experience in respective states. We also hope that the young innovators will be mentored by the industry and academic leaders so that a conversion of innovation into enterprise takes place faster and more effectively. 

The Department of Science and Technology [DST] has demonstrated that with a small support, a significant transformation can be brought about.  My only hope is that the platform techpedia.in will blend the passion, purpose and performance of technological youth of the country to create a new benchmark of originality, social relevance and excellence.   

Redefining the relationship between the government and the Institutions of excellence

Redefining the relationship between the government and the Institutions of excellence

challenge thus is to make the HRD minister, secretary and other leaders in the government sit with the faculty of the three top Institutions( and not just with the directors and the chairmen), understand the way the excellence was achieved by them and then learn the ways of replicating it. Learning it only through directors’ council is second hand way of doing that, it would not really work. Excellence cant be delegated, and learned through a few position holders who themselves may or may not have achieved excellence personally. Just because of the positions they occupy, they don’t always become custodian of the values and destiny of the great institutions.

Inspired teachers: Need for changing the frame of reference

Inspired teachers: Need for changing the frame of reference

Harnessing innovative potential of youth in formal and informal sector of IDB member countries: Lessons of Honey Bee Network

Harnessing innovative potential of youth in formal and informal sector of IDB member countries: Lessons of Honey Bee Network

How Rejection Breeds Creativity :: Articles :: 99U

How Rejection Breeds Creativity :: Articles :: 99U

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE: Garage mechanic from Maharashtr...

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE: Garage mechanic from Maharashtr...: By Anantha Krishnan M Express News Service Bangalore: Plane-maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) might fly out an inspiring story du...

How Rejection Breeds Creativity :: Articles :: 99U

How Rejection Breeds Creativity :: Articles :: 99U

Pursuit of happiness: GNH vs GDP

Pursuit of happiness: GNH vs GDP: Recently, as a member of the Expert Group set up by the King of Bhutan, I attended the meeting to develop gross national happiness as a viable substitute for gross domestic product. The latter goes up when the trees are cut while the former goes down for the same act. There are many other differences between both the concepts, which have triggered a worldwide debate. Some believe that a system, which counts on the destruction of natural resources as a contributor to the economic growth is a broken system.

I think therefore I can

I think therefore I can

science, technology and innovation policy 2-13--will words be backed by action

science, technology and innovation policy 2-13--will words be backed by action: will S T I policy 2013 really make a difference to grassroots innovators?

minds on the margins: Agenda for mobilizing tech youth for transforming India: six challanges

minds on the margins: Agenda for mobilizing tech youth for transforming India: six challanges

some action is taking place on women safety issue

some action is taking place on women safety issue: i am happy that soem action has started, despite government\'s usual inertia and home minister\'s casual attitude