Making budget more responsive to the aspirations of the youth There have been several welcome announcements in the budget that deserve appreciation, even if some of them are symbolic and segmented. For instance, the venture capital fund for MSME, district level incubation and accelerator programme, startup village entrepreneurship programme for rural youth, technology research centre…
Wanted three or four 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; 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…
Will new budget support creative communities and young inventors? The entrepreneurship and people’s knowledge are two themes, which recur repeatedly in the manifesto of the ruling party. And yet, there has not been any declaration in this regard so far. May be, a considered view is being taken to tap the enormous creative…
Frugal innovation is not just about affordability There is a global interest in frugal innovations, particularly emerging from the grassroots level under the constrained environment of material resources. We have received more communications in the last two years than in the previous two decades from various European and other governments as well as corporations. Curious…
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…
Primary education reforms that India can’t wait for There is a considerable anxiety and a little bit of cynicism at all levels of educational systems about the seriousness with which government really wants to bring about reforms. Part of the reason is that it is not listening to the most important hub…
tomorrow, we might have twelve year old girl Chaaya as guest in my class at IIMA, 820pm, how do we overcome inertia, how did she identify a social problem, find a solution, suggest it to nif team, saw it being implemented by village community and teachers of her school, Gandhinagar district what does she feel…
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…
Redirecting development: Some Lessons from 33rd Shodhyatra Walking through the villages in Mahendragadh district, Haryana was very reassuring in certain aspects and bewildering in other. We did not come across even a single malnourished child in the villages during the walk. How could ithappen when many other states and regions of Haryana…
Beyond Gujarat Model There are many elements of gujarat model which haven't been studied enough. Gujaratis reached Africa much before British reached there. As Hirschman argued in a seminal paper on civilising influence of commerce, the trade triggers a skill of negotiation, and negotiation teaches the art of compromise and cooperation. Cooperatives did not succeed…