Education matters despite policy neglect! ‘Kaju katri khao, teacher’, said the student ( will you eat cashew sweet ?), Teacher asked, ‘from where did you get this?’ and took one piece. ‘A rich man had died today’, replied the student. He used to work at cremation ground in Surat. And Bina Rao has been providing…
I am often asked: if an innovation does not scale, is it any good? Such questions are a product of a mindset that does not recognize the legitimacy of niche specific needs. Let us take the case of District Dhimaji, Assam ( where ULFA was born) where iron content in water is very high. The…
Stolen Childhood: greatest robbery of this century There couldn’t be a more opportune moment for remembering millions of children who toil in cotton fields, brick making Bhatta, construction industry, roadside dhabas and restaurants and above all, houses of the the elites. Restoring Childhood ought to be the first priority of any civilised nation. Nobel peace…
A tribute to inspired teachers Every year India honours school teachers for their outstanding contribution based on their applications. Should any teacher really be applying for such honours? Shouldn’t it be the responsibility of parents, fellow teachers, educational administrators and others to nominate such outstanding teachers who go beyond the call of duty and nurture…
There has been a considerable confusion created by many scholars who have not used the terms carefully and therefore, have made the task of cumulation of knowledge difficult. Honey Bee Network has used the term grassroots innovations for last 25 years in a particular context of informal sector. For the growth of knowledge, comparative research…
How to attract talented scholars to science There is a widespread feeling in the country that we are not able to attract the best students to science and if some of them are mobilised, then we work hard not to retain them. There are several ways in which brain drain and brain drift take…
BRICS by brick: An emerging new pole in the world Recent agreement, among BRICS nations [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] to develop a new development finance institution is a highly welcome step. A unipolar world needed very badly a new pole. India has the opportunity as the head of the new institution to…
Sustaining Frugal green innovations: a new paradigm of empathetic and evocative ecosystem Frugality is not just about affordability. Even I had not stressed enough about circularity (that is, cradle to cradle approach of not developing a waste oriented economy) in my earlier talks and writings. It has of course been a core issue in the…
there are several problems with these policies: a) unless we decide to invest in student ideas when they are still students, that is, they r in their colleges and not when they join incubators, we will miss a lot of good ideas, b) in situ incubation is the future, off site residential incubator framework is…
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…