Sunday, October 19, 2014
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Stolen Childhood: greatest robbery of this century
Stolen Childhood: greatest robbery of this century
http://anilg.sristi.org/stolen-childhood-greatest-robbery-of-this-century/
http://anilg.sristi.org/stolen-childhood-greatest-robbery-of-this-century/
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Friday, August 8, 2014
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Friday, August 1, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Wanted four Research Associates/innovation champions
Wanted four Research Associates/innovation champions
Wanted three or four
Research Associates/innovation champions
Research Associates/innovation champions
Post graduates in social or natural sciences with keen eye
for detail, patience with impossible deadlines, and willingness to enjoy
workaholic schedule;
for detail, patience with impossible deadlines, and willingness to enjoy
workaholic schedule;
Experience in editing, communication and research both library and field oriented will be added
advantage. The Person should not treat it as a work opportunity but consider as
an investment in his/her learning capabilities in the field of innovation eco-system
management
advantage. The Person should not treat it as a work opportunity but consider as
an investment in his/her learning capabilities in the field of innovation eco-system
management
Key tasks are:
Support in
organization of International Conference on Creativity and innovation at
Grassroots, Jan 15-19, 2015 iima ( www.iccig.org); library and field research on open innovation
systems, linking corporate innovation strategies with more open,
inclusive and responsive innovation and learning strategies; documentation of
Innovations in Public systems, rural and urban areas, formal and informal
sector, possible organization of Inventor of India ( FIFTH WORKSHOP), innovations for CLIMATE CHANGE resilience; they may also assist me in courses such as: CINE, MTSA, GRIIT, SMIPR, IB, SY
etc.,
organization of International Conference on Creativity and innovation at
Grassroots, Jan 15-19, 2015 iima ( www.iccig.org); library and field research on open innovation
systems, linking corporate innovation strategies with more open,
inclusive and responsive innovation and learning strategies; documentation of
Innovations in Public systems, rural and urban areas, formal and informal
sector, possible organization of Inventor of India ( FIFTH WORKSHOP), innovations for CLIMATE CHANGE resilience; they may also assist me in courses such as: CINE, MTSA, GRIIT, SMIPR, IB, SY
etc.,
Scholars are encouraged to publish alone or co-publish
papers based on the research
papers based on the research
Compensation likely to modest but sufficient to keep spirit
of inquiry alive and vibrant; in some cases part time appointments can be
considered, but all positions are full time
of inquiry alive and vibrant; in some cases part time appointments can be
considered, but all positions are full time
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Infectious innovation: Spreading a virus | anil k gupta blog
Infectious innovation: Spreading a virus | anil k gupta blog
Infectious innovation: Spreading a virus
In last two weeks, I had the privilege of spreading infection of innovation virus in several parts of the country. The foundation programme for the current batch of IAS probationers had an innovation workshop of two days for the first time. Thanks to the initiative of faculty Jaspreet Kaur and Dirctor Rajiv Kapoor, the officers invited several practitioners as well as activists who had achieved public policy goals through innovative pedagogy. It was heartening to note that many of them were beginning to get disturbed by the persistent inertia in society. May be they also saw the changing mood in the country. How passion and purpose gets combined to result in performance through platforms became evident in the interactions. It is hoped that IIMA and LBSNAA will cooperate to map the innovations in governance but also the unmet needs in different regions. If 200 probationers during their field assignments identify 20 unmet needs in each district, we would have made at least first cut inventory of the agenda for action in one third of the country. A chapter of National Innovation Club may also be started to search, spread and celebrate innovations and sense the unmet needs. Likewise, the learning from the change agents at all levels in society will get documented so that cribbing culture gives ways to creative and collaborative culture.
In Odisha, interactions with various secretaries and other members of state innovation council, triggered several initiatives for linking students of technological and other universities. Similarly, in Telangana, Secretary, Education, himself a graduate of IIT Kanpur recognized that the techpedia.in could be a viable platform for linking students with society and small entrepreneurs. In Karnataka, I had the opportunity of recognizing about 60 projects by more than 150 students solving real life problems in an innovative way through TEQIP platform. It was so gratifying to see so much of talent never recognised before, at a common platform. Thanks to the enormous energy of Teqip team and prof Venugopal, anonymity of students who had achieved international award was overcome. There is Teqip project in every state and yet nowhere so far, three best projects from every college have been recognised as was done yesterday. There were students who took up a project from an industry, developed fully functional prototype at almost one tenth of the cost with same reliability as the costly version for testing relays. Similarly, there were several projects which converted plastic into oil ranging from 30 per cent to 90 per cent efficiency (Malvika, Om, Dhiraj, adhiti) and cooked food and helped in vending for mid day meal (Subramanya Shetty). Imagine if you could convert millions of tons of plastic into diesel and furnace oil at reasonable cost, then every housing society or community will process plastic and the dream of Clean India could be accomplished faster than one can imagine. It is gratifying to see the fund being used to support patent protection and also entrepreneurship development. The example of Kerala was shared where any student who started an enterprise while studying can get upto four per cent grace marks and 20 per cent relaxation in attendance. Those states which have not taken any step to use resources under this scheme for promoting innovations by young students should introspect urgently the reasons for their inertia. Any argument against empowering students and expanding their options for innovation and entrepreneurship is an argument against progress and inclusive development. I also interacted with several innovative teams at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore where creative ways of using energy and other resources were showcased. One team had designed a dryer for vegetables and fruits heated by the water of solar heater passing through the dryer. There are a large number of solar heaters installed all over the country. But none has used heat wasted through delivery pipe for such a creative purpose. There was another team which combined fly ash with quarry waste and slag from steel plants bound together by sodium hydroxide. These bricks were not only stronger than ordinary bricks many times, but also retained less moisture and were corroded much later. A team from Dharwad tried to use the energy of rain drops for generating power, of course of low intensity was sufficient to charge sensors for triggering different devices like de-humidifier. There was another interesting project where by using solar systems of heating and evaporative pooling, a 30 degree temperate gradient developed which could be used for generating energy more efficiently than using only heat or only coolness. Many of these projects will be nominated for Gandhian Young Technological Innovation award by techpedia.in. And who knows some of them may make it to the Innovators-Scholar-in-residence at the President’s house. All this has become possible because the model developed through GTU and SRISTI has brought out so much of tangible impact. I am sure, there will be other initiatives which will follow soon adding wings to the imagination of creative people.
Infectious innovation: Spreading a virus
In last two weeks, I had the privilege of spreading infection of innovation virus in several parts of the country. The foundation programme for the current batch of IAS probationers had an innovation workshop of two days for the first time. Thanks to the initiative of faculty Jaspreet Kaur and Dirctor Rajiv Kapoor, the officers invited several practitioners as well as activists who had achieved public policy goals through innovative pedagogy. It was heartening to note that many of them were beginning to get disturbed by the persistent inertia in society. May be they also saw the changing mood in the country. How passion and purpose gets combined to result in performance through platforms became evident in the interactions. It is hoped that IIMA and LBSNAA will cooperate to map the innovations in governance but also the unmet needs in different regions. If 200 probationers during their field assignments identify 20 unmet needs in each district, we would have made at least first cut inventory of the agenda for action in one third of the country. A chapter of National Innovation Club may also be started to search, spread and celebrate innovations and sense the unmet needs. Likewise, the learning from the change agents at all levels in society will get documented so that cribbing culture gives ways to creative and collaborative culture.
In Odisha, interactions with various secretaries and other members of state innovation council, triggered several initiatives for linking students of technological and other universities. Similarly, in Telangana, Secretary, Education, himself a graduate of IIT Kanpur recognized that the techpedia.in could be a viable platform for linking students with society and small entrepreneurs. In Karnataka, I had the opportunity of recognizing about 60 projects by more than 150 students solving real life problems in an innovative way through TEQIP platform. It was so gratifying to see so much of talent never recognised before, at a common platform. Thanks to the enormous energy of Teqip team and prof Venugopal, anonymity of students who had achieved international award was overcome. There is Teqip project in every state and yet nowhere so far, three best projects from every college have been recognised as was done yesterday. There were students who took up a project from an industry, developed fully functional prototype at almost one tenth of the cost with same reliability as the costly version for testing relays. Similarly, there were several projects which converted plastic into oil ranging from 30 per cent to 90 per cent efficiency (Malvika, Om, Dhiraj, adhiti) and cooked food and helped in vending for mid day meal (Subramanya Shetty). Imagine if you could convert millions of tons of plastic into diesel and furnace oil at reasonable cost, then every housing society or community will process plastic and the dream of Clean India could be accomplished faster than one can imagine. It is gratifying to see the fund being used to support patent protection and also entrepreneurship development. The example of Kerala was shared where any student who started an enterprise while studying can get upto four per cent grace marks and 20 per cent relaxation in attendance. Those states which have not taken any step to use resources under this scheme for promoting innovations by young students should introspect urgently the reasons for their inertia. Any argument against empowering students and expanding their options for innovation and entrepreneurship is an argument against progress and inclusive development. I also interacted with several innovative teams at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore where creative ways of using energy and other resources were showcased. One team had designed a dryer for vegetables and fruits heated by the water of solar heater passing through the dryer. There are a large number of solar heaters installed all over the country. But none has used heat wasted through delivery pipe for such a creative purpose. There was another team which combined fly ash with quarry waste and slag from steel plants bound together by sodium hydroxide. These bricks were not only stronger than ordinary bricks many times, but also retained less moisture and were corroded much later. A team from Dharwad tried to use the energy of rain drops for generating power, of course of low intensity was sufficient to charge sensors for triggering different devices like de-humidifier. There was another interesting project where by using solar systems of heating and evaporative pooling, a 30 degree temperate gradient developed which could be used for generating energy more efficiently than using only heat or only coolness. Many of these projects will be nominated for Gandhian Young Technological Innovation award by techpedia.in. And who knows some of them may make it to the Innovators-Scholar-in-residence at the President’s house. All this has become possible because the model developed through GTU and SRISTI has brought out so much of tangible impact. I am sure, there will be other initiatives which will follow soon adding wings to the imagination of creative people.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
lessons from haryana: 33rd shodhyatra part 2
lessons from haryana: 33rd shodhyatra part 2
Innovations in Haryana: Shodhyatra Part II
While visiting government schools during 33rd shodhyatra, impromptu idea competitions were organized. In Buwana village, Sachin shared a problem about tall and the short children not being able to sit equally comfortably on desks of the same height. He suggested desk with adjustable heights. This problem has been around for decades. Just like Chhaya, class seven, Gandhinagar district had drawn our attention to the school taps at height higher than little children like her could access, many children here were also not willing to live with persistent design problems in our system. There were more than 300 ideas received from different schools, maximum were received in Mandhana school. Quality of ideas from many rural schools was comparable with the best in the country. In the same village, we met Kedarnath Khatri who had grown Bt cotton without any pesticide. For a particular disease involving curling of leaves, he sprayed the decanted water collected from limestone powder soaked overnight. For other pests, he sprayed an extract of two kg each of datura, akada and neem in four or five times water or in cow’s urine. Many farmers were following his practice. Never before did we meet so many farmers trying to find non-chemical alternatives for pest control and that too in the cradle of green revolution and the crop which receives almost half the pesticides of the country, i.e. cotton.
Another notable thing during this Shodhyatra was a large number of innovative cycle based weeding and sowing equipments being experimented upon by the farmers. Pravin and Madho Singh had developed a three wheel human powered weeding device, tested first time on our day of visit. Shiv Prasad had used the front wheel of cycle and attached two disc ploughs tilted in opposite direction to weed the cotton crop. In Dulhori Jat, a young boy, Pravin mentioned about the problem old people face while boarding the bus. He suggested retractable steps so that old people and women can easily board the bus. In the same village, Omvir Singh showed a frugal motor winding machine costing hardly Rs 3000 which would have costed at least Rs 20000 in the market. After walking for a while, we stopped for a cup of tea near Shahbajpur, seeing a amaltas (C. fistula) tree in full bloom with yellow flowers. As usual, we started discussing the purpose of yatra and enquired if the people sitting there knew any innovator. A young student Sujit also confirmed that he also did not know any one. We didn’t give up. We started narrating examples of innovators we saw on the way using cycle to develop different devices, Sujit immediately recalled a farmer who had actually developed a cycle based millet sowing device. We arranged a vehicle for him to go and fetch Maharam, the innovator from nearby hamlet of shabhazpur village. It was a very interesting case where a frugal grassroots innovation was more efficient and productive than the costlier version. He explained that when Bajra was sown with the help of cycle plough, the depth was never more than 1 ½ inch and the soil cover on the seed was also thinner. When sown with tractor, the depth was higher and soil cover was also thicker. In the former case, the tillering was higher and yield was sometimes higher than 20 per cent compared to the seeds sown by tractor drawn seed drill. The general assumption is that sowing by heavy machinery would be more productive. Not in this case.
Rishipal, a young student in Dehrolijat village developed a car driven by compressed air. There were other innovators who had developed similar cars before but that should not detract the importance of what Rishi did in a small village without any technical training. There were many other innovations that we came across such as a mechanic using an old engine in place of compressor for filling air in tank. If the idea of one of the students, Anjali had been implemented in time, the union minister who died in the accident might have been alive. She mentioned that unless one used a seat belt the car should not start.
This Shodhyatra, like the earlier one in Punjab, clearly showed that even in the most developed regions of the country, the productivity of the workers remains to be improved and emerging innovations underscore urgency of this goal.
There are many lessons one can learn from 33rd Shodhyatra about sanitation, child nutrition, breast feeding of infants for two – three years, local agitations against consumption of liquor, higher tree density in the cultivated fields, etc. Issue is: will planners design a richer eco-system for millions of such grassroots and student innovations to be supported at district level?
Monday, May 19, 2014
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Ten things Modi can do to sustain enormous societal expectations:
Ten things Modi can do to sustain enormous societal expectations:
Ten things Modi can do to sustain enormous societal expectations:
a) Champion Look East policy: visit USA after visiting China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, S Korea, Ethiopia, Uganada, Kenya etc., President Mukherjee who triggered it earlier can really guide in this; the centre of the world, I argued in 2003 has moved towards East; China and India and Japan and Korea need to synergise, not just in south Asia but also in Africa and Latin America
b) Fold back Food Security coverage to poor people only ( 70 per cent people of this country neither asked for this subsidy nor they deserve it) and use the saved resources for creating innovation and entrepreneurship promotion fund at district level in all the districts of the country, a million enterprises by the youth should be the goal, even if ten percent succeed, a revolution will have been achieved;
c) Mount a mission on child and women nutrition to remove malnutrition and anemia completely in the next few years
d) Have a national dialogue with teachers’ federation and ensure that quality of education in schools improves right away failing which parents association should have a right to fire the teachers, or post them for non-teaching duties, even outside education department; taskforces of high performing innovative teachers in each district should be formed to audit teaching quality every week and submit a report on web;
e) Ensure web presence of every MSME (through the involvement of tech students), craft, informal sector innovator and ensure linkage between their problems and the final year projects of the students as attempted through techpedia.in
f) Talent, talent, talent should be the watchword for appointment to planning commission, various constitutional positions and educational institutions. There are secretaries ot government of india who have come up on account of their ability to perform, they need to be given bigger responsibility but there are also those whose strength lies in holding back things, being risk averse, not trusting others, they need to be shunted out. In Gujarat, most administrators understood the message and tried to deliver. But there were many who were too full of themselves, they hadn’t learned the art of listening and doing. On loyalty ground alone, no system can deliver. The culture of bureaucracy in Gujarat is worth spreading at the Centre;
g) Higher education system needs a thorough transformation, much greater autonomy accompanied by much higher accountability; leadership matters and meddling with the system by appointing people with a particular kind of political leanings alone will undo all the faith that society has in future; there will be pressure to do so, cadre will demand reward for its work, but then what is the change? Should not the reward be in performance rather than positions?
h) India must become the largest provider of technology and infrastructural public goods to Africa and other poorer nations. We must mount a major mission to link trade and diplomacy. Russia which is supposed to be our fiend has hardly 12 billion usd trade while China which many treat as enemy has more than 80 billion and likely to touch 100 billion usd ( with more than 40 Billion deficit on the part of India. Why should China and India exchange not increase in all walks of life and why should not china buy more from India, open its market more and collaborate for global collaborative presence? If trade deficit with China can be bridged, our manufacturing sector will become vibrant.
i) Sports and education require renewed attention and why shouldn’t North Eastern school Teachers be appointed all over the country to eliminate unemployment in north-east and provide high quality committed teachers to our children elsewhere?
j) Openness in governance and enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities in minority dominated regions is the way forward. Social infrastructure must be improved in many of the regions which did not receive much attention during last six decades. Same for tribal regions which need a new deal.
Country needs change and not everything can be changed at the same time. Country must assess it expectations through a little more pragmatic lens but creating too much patience will be counter-productive. Wealthy People will not mind paying a special tax if an honest and transparent system can be designed for using this fund say, for eliminating poverty in fifty or hundred most poor regions in the phase one. Unconditional talks should be begun with leftists insurgents and also other disaffected youth in different parts of the country. Expenditure of more than 20,000 crore in fighting our own children must be saved for better application. Violence has no place in democratic polity of a nation to resolve differences, no matter who inflicts it.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Monday, April 28, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
sristi: what does it stand for
sristi: what does it stand for
SRISTI
SRISTI (Society
for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions),
which means creation, was born in 1993, essentially to support the activities
of the Honey Bee Network to recognize, respect and reward creativity at the grassroots.
The objectives were: systematic documentation, dissemination of, and value
addition in grassroots green innovations, providing them intellectual property
rights protection and risk capital support besides helping in the in situ
and ex situ conservation of local
biodiversity and associated knowledge system. SRISTI is devoted to empowering
the knowledge rich but economically poor people by adding value in their
contemporary creativity as well as traditional knowledge. Linking formal and informal
science was one of the major objectives. It has helped to establish GIAN, NIF,
MVIF and AASTIIK in support of innovators and their innovations. SRISTI created
the Honey Bee database of innovations, and supports the publication of the
Network’s newsletter in nine languages. These are: Honeybee (English), Gujarati
(Loksarvani), Hindi (Sujh-Bujh, Aas Paas Ki), Tamil (Nam Vazhi Velanmai),
Kannada (Hittalagida), Telugu (Palle Srujana), Malayalam (Ini Karshakan
Samsarikkatte ), Oriya (Aama Akha Pakha) and Marathi (Mrudgandh).
for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions),
which means creation, was born in 1993, essentially to support the activities
of the Honey Bee Network to recognize, respect and reward creativity at the grassroots.
The objectives were: systematic documentation, dissemination of, and value
addition in grassroots green innovations, providing them intellectual property
rights protection and risk capital support besides helping in the in situ
and ex situ conservation of local
biodiversity and associated knowledge system. SRISTI is devoted to empowering
the knowledge rich but economically poor people by adding value in their
contemporary creativity as well as traditional knowledge. Linking formal and informal
science was one of the major objectives. It has helped to establish GIAN, NIF,
MVIF and AASTIIK in support of innovators and their innovations. SRISTI created
the Honey Bee database of innovations, and supports the publication of the
Network’s newsletter in nine languages. These are: Honeybee (English), Gujarati
(Loksarvani), Hindi (Sujh-Bujh, Aas Paas Ki), Tamil (Nam Vazhi Velanmai),
Kannada (Hittalagida), Telugu (Palle Srujana), Malayalam (Ini Karshakan
Samsarikkatte ), Oriya (Aama Akha Pakha) and Marathi (Mrudgandh).
SRISTI is now
focusing in more concerted ways on hitherto neglected domains like women’s
knowledge systems, value addition through a Sadbhav-sristi-sanshodhan, a natural
product laboratory, and innovations in education, culture and institutions. However,
ethical fulcrum of its activities can be captured by eight E’s ( Ethics, empathy, equity, efficiency, excellence,
environment, education and entrepreneurship) –the values that are central
to the existence of Honey Bee Network. SRISTI organises Shodh Yatra (Journey of
Exploration) twice a year, Traditional food festival, Recipe competition,
Biodiversity competition and maintains the database of Innovations and Traditional
Knowledge. SRISTI has been advocating for
the last twenty five years [protecting knowledge right of creative communities
and individuals. SRISTI had organised several consultative sessions with the
private sector, scientists, activists and development workers for discussing
various issues related to the access to bio-diversity and associated knowledge
rights. It has also organised worldwide contest for scouting and rewarding
innovations at Grassroots with IFAD, Rome. Techpedia.in, another initiative of SRISTI,
aims at putting the problems of micro, small and medium enterprises, informal
sector, grassroots innovators and other social sectors on the agenda of the
young technology students across the country. SRISTI is providing a platform
for the industry and academic institutions to collaborate, co-create and foster
distributed innovations and promote horizontal learning and sharing. To promote
a culture of innovation among the young minds of the country, SRISTI has
established three categories of national awards for innovative student/ faculty
projects in engineering, pharmacy, biotechnology, basic science and other applied
technologies in the form of Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award
(GYTI) since 2012. SRISTI Samman is given periodically to outstanding social
change agents. SRISTI is trying to build an online
Sanctuary of social, technological and institutional Innovations through blend
of open innovation, collaborative design, crowd-funding, incubation, e-commerce
and challenge awards.
focusing in more concerted ways on hitherto neglected domains like women’s
knowledge systems, value addition through a Sadbhav-sristi-sanshodhan, a natural
product laboratory, and innovations in education, culture and institutions. However,
ethical fulcrum of its activities can be captured by eight E’s ( Ethics, empathy, equity, efficiency, excellence,
environment, education and entrepreneurship) –the values that are central
to the existence of Honey Bee Network. SRISTI organises Shodh Yatra (Journey of
Exploration) twice a year, Traditional food festival, Recipe competition,
Biodiversity competition and maintains the database of Innovations and Traditional
Knowledge. SRISTI has been advocating for
the last twenty five years [protecting knowledge right of creative communities
and individuals. SRISTI had organised several consultative sessions with the
private sector, scientists, activists and development workers for discussing
various issues related to the access to bio-diversity and associated knowledge
rights. It has also organised worldwide contest for scouting and rewarding
innovations at Grassroots with IFAD, Rome. Techpedia.in, another initiative of SRISTI,
aims at putting the problems of micro, small and medium enterprises, informal
sector, grassroots innovators and other social sectors on the agenda of the
young technology students across the country. SRISTI is providing a platform
for the industry and academic institutions to collaborate, co-create and foster
distributed innovations and promote horizontal learning and sharing. To promote
a culture of innovation among the young minds of the country, SRISTI has
established three categories of national awards for innovative student/ faculty
projects in engineering, pharmacy, biotechnology, basic science and other applied
technologies in the form of Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award
(GYTI) since 2012. SRISTI Samman is given periodically to outstanding social
change agents. SRISTI is trying to build an online
Sanctuary of social, technological and institutional Innovations through blend
of open innovation, collaborative design, crowd-funding, incubation, e-commerce
and challenge awards.
sristi: what does it stand for
sristi: what does it stand for
SRISTI
SRISTI (Society
for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions),
which means creation, was born in 1993, essentially to support the activities
of the Honey Bee Network to recognize, respect and reward creativity at the grassroots.
The objectives were: systematic documentation, dissemination of, and value
addition in grassroots green innovations, providing them intellectual property
rights protection and risk capital support besides helping in the in situ
and ex situ conservation of local
biodiversity and associated knowledge system. SRISTI is devoted to empowering
the knowledge rich but economically poor people by adding value in their
contemporary creativity as well as traditional knowledge. Linking formal and informal
science was one of the major objectives. It has helped to establish GIAN, NIF,
MVIF and AASTIIK in support of innovators and their innovations. SRISTI created
the Honey Bee database of innovations, and supports the publication of the
Network’s newsletter in nine languages. These are: Honeybee (English), Gujarati
(Loksarvani), Hindi (Sujh-Bujh, Aas Paas Ki), Tamil (Nam Vazhi Velanmai),
Kannada (Hittalagida), Telugu (Palle Srujana), Malayalam (Ini Karshakan
Samsarikkatte ), Oriya (Aama Akha Pakha) and Marathi (Mrudgandh).
for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions),
which means creation, was born in 1993, essentially to support the activities
of the Honey Bee Network to recognize, respect and reward creativity at the grassroots.
The objectives were: systematic documentation, dissemination of, and value
addition in grassroots green innovations, providing them intellectual property
rights protection and risk capital support besides helping in the in situ
and ex situ conservation of local
biodiversity and associated knowledge system. SRISTI is devoted to empowering
the knowledge rich but economically poor people by adding value in their
contemporary creativity as well as traditional knowledge. Linking formal and informal
science was one of the major objectives. It has helped to establish GIAN, NIF,
MVIF and AASTIIK in support of innovators and their innovations. SRISTI created
the Honey Bee database of innovations, and supports the publication of the
Network’s newsletter in nine languages. These are: Honeybee (English), Gujarati
(Loksarvani), Hindi (Sujh-Bujh, Aas Paas Ki), Tamil (Nam Vazhi Velanmai),
Kannada (Hittalagida), Telugu (Palle Srujana), Malayalam (Ini Karshakan
Samsarikkatte ), Oriya (Aama Akha Pakha) and Marathi (Mrudgandh).
SRISTI is now
focusing in more concerted ways on hitherto neglected domains like women’s
knowledge systems, value addition through a Sadbhav-sristi-sanshodhan, a natural
product laboratory, and innovations in education, culture and institutions. However,
ethical fulcrum of its activities can be captured by eight E’s ( Ethics, empathy, equity, efficiency, excellence,
environment, education and entrepreneurship) –the values that are central
to the existence of Honey Bee Network. SRISTI organises Shodh Yatra (Journey of
Exploration) twice a year, Traditional food festival, Recipe competition,
Biodiversity competition and maintains the database of Innovations and Traditional
Knowledge. SRISTI has been advocating for
the last twenty five years [protecting knowledge right of creative communities
and individuals. SRISTI had organised several consultative sessions with the
private sector, scientists, activists and development workers for discussing
various issues related to the access to bio-diversity and associated knowledge
rights. It has also organised worldwide contest for scouting and rewarding
innovations at Grassroots with IFAD, Rome. Techpedia.in, another initiative of SRISTI,
aims at putting the problems of micro, small and medium enterprises, informal
sector, grassroots innovators and other social sectors on the agenda of the
young technology students across the country. SRISTI is providing a platform
for the industry and academic institutions to collaborate, co-create and foster
distributed innovations and promote horizontal learning and sharing. To promote
a culture of innovation among the young minds of the country, SRISTI has
established three categories of national awards for innovative student/ faculty
projects in engineering, pharmacy, biotechnology, basic science and other applied
technologies in the form of Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award
(GYTI) since 2012. SRISTI Samman is given periodically to outstanding social
change agents. SRISTI is trying to build an online
Sanctuary of social, technological and institutional Innovations through blend
of open innovation, collaborative design, crowd-funding, incubation, e-commerce
and challenge awards.
focusing in more concerted ways on hitherto neglected domains like women’s
knowledge systems, value addition through a Sadbhav-sristi-sanshodhan, a natural
product laboratory, and innovations in education, culture and institutions. However,
ethical fulcrum of its activities can be captured by eight E’s ( Ethics, empathy, equity, efficiency, excellence,
environment, education and entrepreneurship) –the values that are central
to the existence of Honey Bee Network. SRISTI organises Shodh Yatra (Journey of
Exploration) twice a year, Traditional food festival, Recipe competition,
Biodiversity competition and maintains the database of Innovations and Traditional
Knowledge. SRISTI has been advocating for
the last twenty five years [protecting knowledge right of creative communities
and individuals. SRISTI had organised several consultative sessions with the
private sector, scientists, activists and development workers for discussing
various issues related to the access to bio-diversity and associated knowledge
rights. It has also organised worldwide contest for scouting and rewarding
innovations at Grassroots with IFAD, Rome. Techpedia.in, another initiative of SRISTI,
aims at putting the problems of micro, small and medium enterprises, informal
sector, grassroots innovators and other social sectors on the agenda of the
young technology students across the country. SRISTI is providing a platform
for the industry and academic institutions to collaborate, co-create and foster
distributed innovations and promote horizontal learning and sharing. To promote
a culture of innovation among the young minds of the country, SRISTI has
established three categories of national awards for innovative student/ faculty
projects in engineering, pharmacy, biotechnology, basic science and other applied
technologies in the form of Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award
(GYTI) since 2012. SRISTI Samman is given periodically to outstanding social
change agents. SRISTI is trying to build an online
Sanctuary of social, technological and institutional Innovations through blend
of open innovation, collaborative design, crowd-funding, incubation, e-commerce
and challenge awards.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
My manifesto: not that it matters………… vyakti ( individual), vichar ( idea), vyavahar ( practice) and sanskar (embedded values).
My manifesto: not that it matters………… vyakti ( individual), vichar ( idea), vyavahar ( practice) and sanskar (embedded values).
My manifesto: not that it matters............
vyakti ( individual), vichar ( idea), vyavahar (
practice) and sanskar (embedded values).
practice) and sanskar (embedded values).
The Dissent lies at the heart of democracy: great leaders
are judged by the extent to which they brook diversity of views and then try to
recognize the value of climbing ladder: vyakti ( individual), vichar ( idea),
vyavahar ( practice) and sanskar( embedded values.
are judged by the extent to which they brook diversity of views and then try to
recognize the value of climbing ladder: vyakti ( individual), vichar ( idea),
vyavahar ( practice) and sanskar( embedded values.
We will never find a perfect leader, but we can create
situations in which imperfection is continually debated and improved upon.
There is no doubt that Country wants Change, change from Inertia
to action, indifference to engagement, treating people merely as hands, mouth and legs to people with a
mind, a purpose; changing mindset of
using natural resources recklessly and saving every drop of water ( as tried in
mizoram and many other parts of the country).
situations in which imperfection is continually debated and improved upon.
There is no doubt that Country wants Change, change from Inertia
to action, indifference to engagement, treating people merely as hands, mouth and legs to people with a
mind, a purpose; changing mindset of
using natural resources recklessly and saving every drop of water ( as tried in
mizoram and many other parts of the country).
We have to ask questions as to why saurashtra can have more
than hundred thousand check-dams and farm ponds through people' participation (
people had died in firing afew years ago
in junagadh distt protecting against shortage of water, and Vidharbha
has only suicides and long dry stretches with hardly any in situ water
harvesting), elsewhere farmers use 60-70 hp engines to pump water from
thousands of feet, non sustainable use (worse many industrialists pour
untreated waste in underground wells)?
than hundred thousand check-dams and farm ponds through people' participation (
people had died in firing afew years ago
in junagadh distt protecting against shortage of water, and Vidharbha
has only suicides and long dry stretches with hardly any in situ water
harvesting), elsewhere farmers use 60-70 hp engines to pump water from
thousands of feet, non sustainable use (worse many industrialists pour
untreated waste in underground wells)?
Why should education in government and municipal school be
dealt with so much contempt and indifference because only the children of AAM AAurat study there? Why should not it be
obligatory for children of all central and state departments of education to study in in the schools run by
them? The quality will go up immediately. How can a service provider say that
quality standards for provider and the clients be different?
dealt with so much contempt and indifference because only the children of AAM AAurat study there? Why should not it be
obligatory for children of all central and state departments of education to study in in the schools run by
them? The quality will go up immediately. How can a service provider say that
quality standards for provider and the clients be different?
Why should 65 per cent people of this country be given subsidized food when only about 30
percent people need it? Why should not absolute poverty be eliminated instead
from the poorest fifty districts every year in the next five years?
percent people need it? Why should not absolute poverty be eliminated instead
from the poorest fifty districts every year in the next five years?
Why should people's knowledge, creativity and innovative
potential not become the fulcrum for evolving policies, institutions and
processes of governance? Why shouldn't
we ask hard questions as to what difference National Innovation Council made to
the lives of creative and innovative youth, forget the rest of the people? Why should not science and technology be
treated with greater respect than have eight cabinet minsters in ten years,
Ah!!!
potential not become the fulcrum for evolving policies, institutions and
processes of governance? Why shouldn't
we ask hard questions as to what difference National Innovation Council made to
the lives of creative and innovative youth, forget the rest of the people? Why should not science and technology be
treated with greater respect than have eight cabinet minsters in ten years,
Ah!!!
Why dont we have open source multi-media, multi language
content made by students in IITs and AIIMS IIMS and IISERs available in seven
lakh villages in one year? This will need the support of youth and not just
government. Why should not twenty million people traveling by train every day
be challenged to think about the problems of the country and also exposed to
sustainable life style tips? Isnt it a
shame that for the last one decade P and
T department ( to engage 1.6 lakh rural post officers covering seven lakh
villages) and Railway Board have been sitting over proposals to engage with
masses to involve them in the ideation process for the nation and diffusing
socially useful knowledge. Why can not we book for a digital course/s to be
completed while buying tickets and pursuing
our long distance bus or
train journey? will not that make
india learning and knowledge society.
people will start thinking about life long learning and divert their mind from
meaningless cribbing. Why should not Sanitation capital of Gujarat be not built
in Raj samadhiya village which has not collected much fine these days because no body throws any paper on road, or
dirties common lands or waters? similarly, why should not sanitation and roof
top water harvesting capital fo the country be shifted to mizoram rural.
content made by students in IITs and AIIMS IIMS and IISERs available in seven
lakh villages in one year? This will need the support of youth and not just
government. Why should not twenty million people traveling by train every day
be challenged to think about the problems of the country and also exposed to
sustainable life style tips? Isnt it a
shame that for the last one decade P and
T department ( to engage 1.6 lakh rural post officers covering seven lakh
villages) and Railway Board have been sitting over proposals to engage with
masses to involve them in the ideation process for the nation and diffusing
socially useful knowledge. Why can not we book for a digital course/s to be
completed while buying tickets and pursuing
our long distance bus or
train journey? will not that make
india learning and knowledge society.
people will start thinking about life long learning and divert their mind from
meaningless cribbing. Why should not Sanitation capital of Gujarat be not built
in Raj samadhiya village which has not collected much fine these days because no body throws any paper on road, or
dirties common lands or waters? similarly, why should not sanitation and roof
top water harvesting capital fo the country be shifted to mizoram rural.
Why should not at least 0.01 per cent area of all
infrastructural projects be set aside for in
situ conservation of biodiversity?
infrastructural projects be set aside for in
situ conservation of biodiversity?
Why does not any party claim that with in the first hundred
days of coming to power, they will make roof top water harvesting
compulsory? With in six months, high
quality local language content will be delivered to every school? Radio and Tv
and mobiles system will be used for educating masses and children on priority.
Public media no more gives space for poetry, art and culture the way it was needed
and as it was done earlier. Why not? Can a country survive in the long term
without poetry? Can we think of ourselves, our sanity without Kabir and Rahim? can we live with unsafe streets for women, children and
delayed court cases for ever, just like that?
days of coming to power, they will make roof top water harvesting
compulsory? With in six months, high
quality local language content will be delivered to every school? Radio and Tv
and mobiles system will be used for educating masses and children on priority.
Public media no more gives space for poetry, art and culture the way it was needed
and as it was done earlier. Why not? Can a country survive in the long term
without poetry? Can we think of ourselves, our sanity without Kabir and Rahim? can we live with unsafe streets for women, children and
delayed court cases for ever, just like that?
Ensure that people in Dhemaji in Assam will not have to
drink high iron content water and continuously suffer, have two dozen small
rivers with no bridge over them; people in Bastar will not have to extract oil
from non edible tree seeds using ten thousand year old technology? Why should these priorities of marginal
people, regions not be reflected in our priorities and so called
manifestos!!!! Ah!!!
drink high iron content water and continuously suffer, have two dozen small
rivers with no bridge over them; people in Bastar will not have to extract oil
from non edible tree seeds using ten thousand year old technology? Why should these priorities of marginal
people, regions not be reflected in our priorities and so called
manifestos!!!! Ah!!!
Why should AYUSH system of medicine and allopathy not be
integrated as done in China? Why should not do-it-yourself kits for making
water filters be shared with all poor households in first 250 days of new
government? why should not small scale
industries and start up be given prime attention in the policy making system? They
provide the most jobs after all. It is time to ask hard questions, but why are
not we hearing about them?
integrated as done in China? Why should not do-it-yourself kits for making
water filters be shared with all poor households in first 250 days of new
government? why should not small scale
industries and start up be given prime attention in the policy making system? They
provide the most jobs after all. It is time to ask hard questions, but why are
not we hearing about them?
We need an impatient system of governance, empathetic system of
engagement, intimate system of involvement of knowledge rich-economically
poor people in governance along with educated and wealthy elite which cares for
the country, trusts that an inclusive and sustainable India is in the interest
of the world, not just ourselves.
engagement, intimate system of involvement of knowledge rich-economically
poor people in governance along with educated and wealthy elite which cares for
the country, trusts that an inclusive and sustainable India is in the interest
of the world, not just ourselves.
A society where prayer for any sectarian benefit is
prohibited, how can it not pursue amity and cultural pluralism as a credo…
prohibited, how can it not pursue amity and cultural pluralism as a credo…
In our vedic prayer, we pray not just for believers in Ram
or Shiva, not just all human beings, but all living beings, such an embracing
philosophy can not be allowed to wither away..
or Shiva, not just all human beings, but all living beings, such an embracing
philosophy can not be allowed to wither away..
Sarvey bhavantu sukhinah….
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
National Inclusive Innovation Centre for Development (NIICenD) takes off at Gram Bharati and ignite awards to creative children feb 19, 2014 at teh hands of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India
National Inclusive Innovation Centre for Development (NIICenD) takes off at Gram Bharati and ignite awards to creative children feb 19, 2014 at teh hands of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India
Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, BharatRatna, Former President of India unveils the foundation stone of National Inclusive Innovation Centre for Development (NIICenD) at Gram Bharati, Gandhinagar district tomorrow feb 19 at 11 am, meets with local community representatives, faculty and students, gives away the Ignite awards to 44 students form 17 states at RJM auditorium IIMA at 3pm. He will also meet ten creative children of primary schools who have tried ot make a difference to education in Gujarat and Maharashtra and ten winners of Gandhian young tech innovation awards, techpedia.in of sristi at the venue. He will interact with IIMA students and faculty at 410pm at rjm and leave for airport at 515pm. There is an exhibition of children ideas organised at rjm at 200pm.
NIICenD in sanskrit means flow, and I hope we can help creative common people of our country discover their flow……
your support and wishes are very crucial for NIICenD to make a real difference
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Manifesto for primary education: A change not monitored is a change not desired.
Manifesto for primary education: A change not monitored is a change not desired.
Manifesto for primary education: A change not monitored is a change not desired.
Ever since the middle class decided to discard government schools for admitting their children, the quality of education has declined drastically. The salary of government school teachers is several times more than the average salary of private school teachers. It is not just the motivation levels but also the infrastructural level which is low. The whole pedagogy and curriculum is devoid of social, ecological, cultural and institutional connect. Children are not taken to a temple, mosque or monastery and measure its dimensions to learn how to measure. Whenever a district collector or other such officer has admitted their children in government schools, the quality has gone up. It should be obligatory for every employee of education department to send their children only to government schools so that they get first hand input and we have dingle standard of what is good for children of elite is also good for poor. Same thing should apply to all ministers of union and state governments. Otherwise, we will produce two classes of citizen. Let us be unequivocal about how India treats its children. Small incremental changes will not bring about drastic transformation of educational system. We need both surgery and organ transplant. Every political party without any exception has neglected primary education, so much so that even AAP party has not stirred the pot of primary education, though has tried to meddle with the character of the central university in Delhi. Obviously, betraying the trust of children does not cause any pain to the entire political and other ruling classes. Media and other intelligentsia have come to believe that there is no way out. I am not pessimistic and I think solution will come from within the system and in bottom-up manner.
In 1997, the then additional chief secretary, Mr. Ramamoorthy requested us to help develop a management plan for universalization of primary education. I realized that unless you build upon the ideas of those who have done excellently well within the existing constraints, we will not be able to find a breakthrough. I asked him whether he could recount the names of 25 such teachers who had achieved every goal of the policy without any outside help, incentive or even recognition. At that time, there were about 1.6 lacs teachers in Gujarat. He could not recall name of any such teacher because he had never asked such a question. Then, we requested the President of Gujarat School Teachers Federation to help. The next meeting was organized in Teachers’ Federation office. They identified 25 teachers, each one of whom had achieved spectacular results entirely through her/his own efforts. After listening to them, we realized that the management plan can really be crafted only by pooling the aspirations of such outstanding teachers. Prof. Vijaya Sherry Chand, then a Fellow at the RJMCEI compiled a book based on experiences of innovative teachers. An outstanding book, Teachers as Transformers, was subsequently published by SRISTI Innovations. There are similar teachers in every region. And yet despite repeated exhortations, such teachers have not become a point of reference either at center or state level. Can we transform education at any level without relying upon the inclusive spirit of inspired teachers? .
We should ensure that every Chief Minister and Central Education Minister spends at least one day every month listening to the ideas, suggestions and feedback of outstanding primary school teachers. So far CM neither in Gujarat nor elsewhere have paid heed to my request. Some day they will. Without such a direct connect, the bureaucrats will keep pushing the files without any change in the accountability. Unless the ideas of those who have performed despite constraints are taken as the basis for developing transformative solutions, country will not change.
We need to ensure that infrastructure for every primary school including toilets and drinking water supply must be ensured in time bound manner. A government, which can waste thousands of crores for subsiding the food for rich who neither deserve nor demand cheap food will not care about this. Any political party which does not have a blueprint for providing the best possible education to children must be shown the door by the parents of such children. There is nothing more important than this agenda. In many schools, management committees are set up but are not active or are insufficiently active. There should be a weekly update collected from every SMC [School Management Committee] about the results achieved.
This country can really transform the quality of primary education in next two years. People will start withdrawing their children from private school and put them in government school because of better quality of education. The President and Secretary of every teacher federation must be persuaded to sign a contract with the education department and SMCs at local level on delivery of results on qualitative and quantitative indicators. All India Radio must broadcast special news bulletin on primary education every day informing the people about the state of education in various schools. A change not monitored is not the change desired. Unless we start monitoring the right indicators, we are unlikely to get expected results, hopefully the political parties are listening, else the people will stop listening to them.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Manifesto for Deep Green revolution: transition to new politics
Manifesto for Deep Green revolution: transition to new politics
Manifesto for Deep Green revolution: transition for new politics
Recent shodhyatra in Punjab has given us new insights about the deepening crisis in agriculture growth and sustainability. The ominous signs were visible for quite some time. The agricultural science and extension system needs complete recast. Political parties can not sustain the declining profit margins in agriculture by more and more subsidies ( leading to non sustainable use of natuiral resources) though i am not against subsidies altogether. Obviously when Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank recently questioned the logic of subsides for the poor he did not look at the subsidies he himself gets in his house rent, transport and numerous other privileges. I as a professor pay a fraction of rent for my house compared to the market rate. That is also a subsidy. Medical reimbursements and other support civil servants and other public functionaries get are all available at taxpayers' account. Having said that, free water and electricity do lead to over consumption and decline in water table in some cases worsening in water quality as well. We have to apply far more pesticides, fertilizer than a few decades ago because of declining soil fertility, predators of pests, increasing resistance of pests to the chemicals etc. It costs more energy to get same amount of water from deeper layers of ground water. How will it change?
Agenda for change:
We need to ensure that efficiency in agriculture is noticed, encouraged and rewarded. That is possible when experiments are taken up to reduce costs of cultivation by substituting chemical alternatives by herbal and agronomic ways of pest control and fertility management. Similarly, low cost approach of treating animals will have to be adopted. Fortunately not all-traditional knowledge is lost in many of the green revolution regions. Shamsher Singh knew the use of coriander for controlling mastitis in animals in Bharon village. He learned it from his grandfather. He did not use it. But then a paper was published validating this use in Iraq in September, 2012. We can ignore it and thus impose the non-sustainable costs on the farmers, strain on farmers, and adverse effects of residues on consumers. The site SRISTI.org/hbnew has a huge database of thousands of sustainable practices developed by the innovative farmers besides the HBN database of NIF. But who will diffuse these open source knowledge base?
There is a strong desire on the part of farmers, many of very wealthy ones, to change course but they have lost the will to experiment, though it was this very spirit which led to green revolution. We have to trigger the experimental spirit once again.
Not in one village did we find any agro-industry processing the village produce. How could the next level of transition be made without having in situ value addition. The agricultural universities have to strengthen food processing departments, involve private sector to help set up small distributed production, packaging and distribution units, and mobile quality control labs will have to be set up to ensure highest standards of quality and safety. It is a pity that after six decades we should still be pleading for this rather than scaling these up.
We discovered many farm machinery innovations but there was and is no agricultural angel and venture fund. The Distrcit Innovatiin Fund requires proposalt o be sent yo Delhi or state capitals in some cases. In Gujarat the proposals have to be sent to finance ministry, Delhi --really an absurd requirement. That was not the purpose when we developed the idea and it was approved by 13th Finance commission. Why do we not trust a collector and a local committee constituted by him for just one crore fund? We could invest in a variety of machineries, which need to be developed further. No farm machinery has electronic sensors and thus the control or feedback systems. How can we move towards precision farming, a need of the hour.
The whole technological, institutional and socio-economic infrastructure needs fresh thinking of we want to save soils, souls and the spirit of the bread basket of our country. let us see which political party will like to bell the cat?
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