Five major reforms in school education system: a. There is no focus on inspired teachers at any level in the education system. One can find hundred faults with the system and many of these are genuine. But, unless we build upon what is good in our system, there is no major hope of large scale…
Transforming a privilege into a right to primary education: Imagine a taluka in the country in which almost no teacher comes one minute late to class? Not many private schools may even claim that distinction. It is not just that a teacher comes to class in time, but performance of every student is tracked by the education officer…
Tianjin Declaration for Promoting Green Grassroots Innovation For Harmonious Development Building the bridge between formal and informal science at grassroots level will unfold hitherto unexplored opportunities for socio-economic development of common people excluded from economic growth processes around the world. Creativity and innovation at grassroots and dynamic traditional knowledge systems have in past helped in…
Way Ahead The 100 Miles – Ela R. Bhatt[1] I would urge us to use things and services of primary needs to life that are produced within 100 miles around us. To name them: food, shelter, clothes, primary education and primary healthcare. The 100 Mile Principle weaves decentralization, locality, size, and scale…
From space to the ground, reaching water to the unreached After having put a stop to the manned space flights at the end of current year, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has initiated a very challenging mission to reach the last man on the earth. From man on the moon, the journey of the…
Water, wisdom and well being : Anil K Gupta[1] Let me begin with a Zen story. A monk was known to teach in a very subtle manner. He had many disciples and he tried to teach them individually according to their sensibilities. One day, a particular disciple started to…
In June 2009, people going about their ordinary routines in Stockholm encountered a series of perplexing and—most important—fun diversions. One day, commuters at the Odenplan subway station found that the staircase had been replaced with a musical piano keyboard, replete with sound. Young and old alike abandoned their usual ride on the adjacent escalator to…
Can respect for grassroots creativity trickle down from the top? Hon’ble Rashtrapati, Smt.Pratibha Devisingh Patil created a small history on March 10, 2010. For the first time, an exhibition of innovations was inaugurated in the Mughal Garden of President’s house. The idea was that thousands of farmers and others who visit Mughal Garden should also see the…
Innovations in small scale industries: * *Listening to the workers and users* The economic development need not register only aggregate growth but also should be characterized by a distributed nature of rowth. Micro and small scale industries play an important role in creating large number of spurs for entrepreneurial development. Democracy can be sustained best…
Empowerment of others is not possible without empowering ourselves.how do we empower ourselves, except by becoming vulnerable. it might appear paradoxical that we are closer to ourselves when we have least clothing of power on us. Authenticity requires a constant revalidation of our understanding about our place in this world. There are many ways in…