When society gives big mandates to parties and social standpoints, it also expects magnanimity and inclusiveness in the same measure. I want to list some of the reforms that are crying for implementation in the larger institutional interest of an inclusive society. For a long time, we have been trying to universalise the benefits of food security,…
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…
Recently many cars collided on Mathura road, because they could not see the accident ahead due to fog. This could have been avoided if the idea of Gayathri and Pranav from Naval school, Kochi, Kerala, had been implemented in vehicles. They suggested that whenever a two-wheeler (for that matter, any vehicle) meets with an accident,…
While driving to Vadodara from ahmedabad, saw a vehicle with “eco-chulha” written on the back glass. Curious to know more, we waived to that car to stop. Ashwin Bhai, a non resident Gujarati entrepreneur owning many motels is an engineer interested in gasification and biomass stove design and manufacture. Exporting these stoves to many countries,…
Reminders serve little purpose if the victims also resign to a kind of learned-helplessness. With the exception of a few private attempts to dig small tanks, there has been no campaign in the country to store rain water where it falls, that is, in situ conservation. Why has budgetary allocation for such a strategic goal…
Deification of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam legacy will be the greatest disservice to his memory. Having his statues on crossroads would not make him more venerated. We killed Gandhi, many times over by deifying him. I hope Dr Kalam will survive this tendency of making idols of people and forgetting…
Homage to a great human being: Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, former President of India and Bharat Ratna was not just a President. He had earned enormous respect and social capital through his humility, support for humanitarian causes and commitment towards grassroots creativity and innovation. He shared this capital with everybody who came in contact with him. …
What can a District Collector do to promote innovations: an open letter Dear District Collector I have had the chance to meet many of you at LBSNAA foundation program during the last five years. LBSNAA Mussoorie and IIMA are likely to get into a longer term cooperation soon to promote inclusive and empathetic innovations in…
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…
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…