Global Innovation challenges-1: a call for creative connections with children, youth and women When any society learns to live with solvable problems by reinforcing inertia, indifference and also internalizing helplessness, then imagination gets stifled first. Once imagination gets constrained, innovations are unlikely to follow. UNICEF and SRISTI have joined hands to announce a global challenge…
In a diverse civilizational society, it is inevitable that one would find multiple perspectives on the concept of nationhood. To expect uniformity, would be to kill the source of sustainability: that is diversity. The real tension begins when we start measuring and monitoring the boundary of the diversity. How much latitude different groups should have…
What is common among Santosh Pachar, a lady farmer from Rajasthan, Paresh Panchal, a mechanic from Gujarat, Akash a tenth class student from Tamil Nadu, Shalini, a student from Patna and six other innovators from around the country? Hosted by The President of India as innovation scholar in residence along with two artists and writers…
With the exorbitant hike in UK visa fees and Brexit, globalization got its first blow. With the transition in US government, a very big question mark has been put on the future of globalized world as it evolved so far. For all the apologists of uniform world economic order, and WTO, the movement of capital…
harnessing youth for nation building: In a pluralistic, democratic and polycentric society, it is natural that building consensus will not be easy around a minimum agreed plan for mobilising youth for nation building. However, I want to try and propose an agenda for debate and modification so that a non-controversial pathway to progress…
There is a very welcome upsurge of entrepreneurial interest among the young people in the recent years. Several initiatives from universities, state and central governments and private sector have been taken to smoothen the journey from mind to market. There is a worldwide interest in the concept of frugal innovation which I proposed in early…
very practical idea, we at Nifindia.org gave an award to school student Moxad for similar idea in 2007 http://www.usmp.edu.pe/pdf/welcome_conti.pdf moxad suggested this in 2006, http://nif.org.in/innovation/generating_energy__from_movement_of_sewage/341 also see another awarded tech on electricity generation from sewage http://nif.org.in/innovation/power_generation__through__sewage-slow__moving__water/49 wish our civc authorities were as responsive as portland authorities are, good luck and congratulations portland municipality http://themindunleashed.org/2015/02/portland-just-installed-water-pipes-generate-electricity.html
Birds, bridges and beautiful memoryscapes: Shodhaytra in Tripura-II For a long stretch, while walking in Gondacherra region, Dholai district of the state, we did not hear the songs of the birds nor did we see them flying. Later, we discovered that they used to make clay balls,…
Every time there is a tragedy, the parliament discusses the issue and then business resumes as usual. I hope things will change this time. Not because in the presence of thousands of people, a farmer was allowed to commit suicide. But because the conditions which lead some farmers to take extreme step have their…
I want to continue the discussion on how do we educate our children, particularly pre-school and primary school children. I can never get tired of recalling what my grandfather, a monk had told me years ago, when I had just become a young parent. He said, ‘don’t teach…