A lakh innovations by rural school dropouts ... it's time we propelled the economy with them.
Source: Prof Anil Gupta's b;log:http://sristi.org
DNA India on 02 July, 2010
anil k gupta
Manu A B
A cycle that runs on water and land, a scooter powered-flour mill, solar mosquito killer, a cycle powered washing machine - these are a few of the over one lakh outstanding innovations that have come from school dropouts and the rural poor.Although some of the innovations, like the powered-flour mill made a debut in the film 3 Idiots, a good majority of these brilliant ideas and products are yet to be recognised across the country.
Thanks to the relentless efforts of the National Innovation Foundation, under the guidance of Professor Anil K Gupta, these innovations are changing the rural stereotype. "We have a culture that dubs innovation as craziness, but our success would lie in identifying more crazy people, their craziness so that the innovation revolution can spread across India," Gupta said. "The present generation is losing out on scientific knowledge. Never before in the history of human civilisation has so much of scientific knowledge been lost due to sheer neglect," says Gupta, who also dons the cap of a professor at IIM Ahmedabad. Excerpts from an interview:
How has your experience been working with rural innovators?
It has been one of the most exciting things in my life. The rural people have the spirit to innovate and come up with solutions to overcome their problems. Grassroots innovations exemplify the struggle to find a better and cheaper solution to address our problems. There is a lot to learn from their lives and achievements. These tribals are the true pride of India. They have so many great innovations. I found the villages in Bastar district to be one of the best in hygiene and sanitation. There, a sick person is cremated after death, while a healthy one who dies is buried. This is a good, healthy practice, a lesson for all of us. The youth do not want to join Maoists, they are so talented ... we should be able to guide them in the right direction. Unfortunately, the police and administration are indifferent. They are given no opportunity to exhibit their skills. We are now initiating a programme to bring out their talent and make them leaders in their own right. The government is not investing in places like this, they are not given any opportunity to come up in life. So their anger is not misplaced. Talking of innovation, they have developed a medicinal variety of paddy, which can be pitched as a nutraceutical with a huge impact. This agro-bio diversity should be catalogued and marketed. I have had talks with the National Gene Bank but nothing has happened yet. There are so many ideas that can drive the Indian economy. Our institutes should pay more attention in developing products that have mass appeal.
How far has NIF succeeded in bringing to centrestage rural innovators?
The NIF has a database of about 140,000 innovations. But there are many more innovators across India. Unfortunately, we are not able to reach as many people as we should. We have succeeded to some extent in building a link with scientists and designers to add value to the innovator's technologies. We provide a micro venture fund to convert innovations into enterprises and help protect heir intellectual property rights.
How important is innovation in a country like India?
Innovation is not a common cultural trait in India. But we have found that India is rich in creative and talented people, but there is a congenital failure to identify innovation and creativity. There should be a complete change in parental and educational mindset to promote innovation and channel the energy of our young people. We need to rethink on multi-functionality, frugality, diversity and resilience, the four features of nature that should reflect in future designs for development and diversity. The Honey Bee Network is working across countries struggling to bridge the gap between formal and informal technology. Our scientific organisations should acknowledge and recognise their talent and work in tandem to develop these innovations and make it to use in our daily lives.
What role can innovation play to develop India?
Innovation is the only way to sustain India's growth. There are about 200 trouble-torn districts in India. Instead of declaring a war on them, their capabilities should be channelled in the right direction. The youth in these places can be mentored to choose the right track and build a great society. India cannot take pride on a growth rate which is just benefiting 20% of the total population. There should be an inclusive growth accommodating the entire society. Many of these rural innovations can have a profound impact on our society.
Have companies approached innovators to productise innovations?
Around six companies have come forward to license products. For example, T R Rajesh from Kerala developed a low-cost solution for sewage treatment which has been adopted by a company in Goa. It is a low-cost idea that can be easily implemented.
A company in Andhra Pradesh has paid an advance royalty to licence 6-7 herbal products of an innovator. They have put his photograph on the labels. We are in talks with TI Cycles. We have some brilliant ideas like the amphibious cycle, cycle washing machine, etc. Companies are now realising the need to harness low-cost technologies but this is happening at a very small scale. The aspirations of the corporate sector must change to accommodate our innovations.
How many innovations have received patents?
About 250 patents applications have been filed. In India, our innovators have got 35 patents and 5 patents in the US. The US patent office did not charge us any patent fee when they heard that the innovations were from people who had no formal training. In India, also we are charged less while applying for a patent.
However, getting a patent is a time-consuming process. Considering the innovation at India's premier R&D institutes, NIF has a good record. The research at NIF is unparalleled. However, without value addition and conversion of these ideas into a larger entrepreneurial activity, there is no future.
We are also taking efforts to build the open-source database where anyone can adopt these technologies in daily life or propagate them among the masses. We have 2,000 such good ideas in the Honey Bee network.
We should have a fast-track system for innovators. We also promote the format where any one can use the knowledge we have shared to build a product or a service. The share of non-monetary technologies is less than 16% in India. We invest so much in systems when there are low-cost solutions available.
How does NIF find innovators?
Our volunteers go on a journey of discovery to remote areas across India. We conduct a Shodh Yatra (literally, a 'search tour') every six months to reach out to the people. We have many students who volunteer to look out for innovators. We have briefed them to look for the 3 Is — interesting, inspiring and intriguing — innovations.
There are thousands of ideas which are mainly at the conception stage. If there is more financial and technical assistance, these ideas can be developed to transform our society.
How does the NIF help entrepreneurs?
Once the innovations are identified, a trial and search is done to make sure this innovation is unique. Sometimes the product may be distinctive though it may be already in existence. It could be a modification of a product at a lower cost.
The proof of conception is also verified. At times, the innovation is not refined to become a product. So we get designers and fabricators to help them improve and develop the product. We assist them in product development and technical support.
If it is a herbal product, we have a tie-up with the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research and Indian Council of Medical Research to help in researching and validating the product. Value addition is very important in scaling up the product. The patent right belongs to the innovator and NIF has no role in it.
What are the lessons from the Shodh Yatra? How has it helped?
The Shodh Yatra is basically a journey on foot to celebrate creativity at grassroots across the nation, every year. It is amazing to see so many ideas among the poor and tribals in India. We walk every six months and during our journey, we meet many innovative people at the micro level in every area. So I am very confident that there are many more people across the nation with new ideas. They need hand-holding and guidance to give a definite shape to their ideas. In the last 10 years, we have walked about 12,000 kms as a part the Shodh Yatra. In the Naxal-affected Bastar district, we met so many talented tribal people. The tribal people whom we ignore are rich in traditional knowledge and have impeccable artistic skills.
How have the innovators made a difference to the society?
The pollution levels in Indian metros are rising. We have an entrepreneur who has found a solution to this alarming problem. A mechanic, he developed a device which absorbs carbon content from generators or engines of 10-12 HP. There are no generators in India that have a pollution control device attached to them. There is no requirement under the present rules.
However, Virendra Kumar Sinha from Bihar has made a pollution control device for gensets. This device absorbs exhaust gases making it clear, along with reducing its temperature. Why don't we use this in automobiles and small-scale industries? These are cleaner and cheaper alternatives.
He made this device as there was a school near his unit. He did not want the school children to be affected. If we had been a proactive society, the pollution control board should have approached us to make use of the device.
Every genuine manufacturer should implement these kinds of environment-friendly solutions. There should a huge demand for these indigenous products. There are a large number of ideas which are yet to be diffused at the scale they should have.
Which states account for the maximum number of innovations and from which category of people?
We have found the maximum number of innovations in Gujarat. This is also because we are based in Gujarat. Kerala, Bihar and Karnataka also have a good number of innovators. A good number of innovations have come from artisans, farmers, mechanics. . . and women. Women have been very innovative. Since they have been traditionally not allowed to experiment, they have built products and solutions in food processing, childcare, etc. Despite the constraints, women have excelled. Women are very creative and talented but there are no opportunities to support their ideas.
A simple traditional medicine is rubbing nutmeg powder on the navel of babies. Many of the traditional ideas are easy to implement, and have no ill effects. But has our healthcare policy ever looked at these aspects?
Our children are losing out on traditional knowledge. There is no importance to values today. One of the reasons is a total disconnect between the grandparents and children.
What are the challenges you face?
We face staff and fund shortage. We have a staff of only 40 people who work on a contract basis. They work hard despite so many constraints. I am very happy that we have such a wonderful team.
We do have many volunteers under the Honey Bee Network but this is not enough. We need to send this message to the masses. There is no mass acceptance yet. This has to change.
Movies like 3 Idiots did showcase some of our innovations. But that hasn't had the impact it should have had. Our agriculture farms should showcase the innovation of many of our farmers.
The devices they have built can be used across the country for better productivity. Tea plucking is a tedious job, but our innovators have found a simple solution to make this process easier.
How will the NIF benefit with the change in its structure?
The National Innovation Foundation was set up in March 2000 after we had several rounds of discussions with policy makers over a period of six months, convincing them of the need for such an establishment.
Dr R A Mashelkar's is the chairperson of NIF. Funds crunch is one of our biggest deterrents. It was set with a corpus fund of Rs 20 crore when we actually needed Rs 200 crore. However, the NIF will now be converted into a grant-in-aid institution under the Department of Science and Technology. Hopefully, we will get more resources and assistance. The NREGA gets Rs 60,000 crore every year. We do not even get 1% of this amount!
Many graduates from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) take up jobs in fields totally different from what they studied. How can we bring about a system where more people stay focused on their fields?
Many IITians have great ideas. Not just IITians, even local technical institutes have a wealth of ideas. But they don't get the required help or support in India. We cannot blame them for digressing to other fields.
In a government polytechnic college in Latur (in Maharashtra), three young girls have built a black box for automobiles. How many people in India know about this? Should not such products be developed and sold in a mass scale?
There is no acknowledgment from any quarter. These ITIs (Indian Technical Institutes) and polytechnics have mass talent at grassroots level. So, I think, the government needs to look into the development of these institutes if they want to promote rural population.
What is your advice to the young innovators/entrepreneurs?
We need to bring about an entrepreneurial revolution in India. The environment in India now is ideal to focus on new ideas and build enterprises for social development.
Youngsters should not be afraid of taking risks. There is no harm in attempting to develop your own idea or supporting a unique initiative. Even if you do not succeed, you can go back and take up any job.
Technology and business have developed at a fast pace. So there is a huge scope for nation building if youngsters come forward to promote unique initiatives that are rooted to our culture and people.
These can have a transformational effect in developing India as a leader in sustainable technologies. It is very essential to think differently and have an identity of your own.
Courtesy: Rediff
manuab@rediffmail.com
Professor Anil K Gupta can be reached at anilg@sristi.org
Have an innovation?
It's time to contact info@nifindia.org.
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