Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Awards given recently provided solutions but also raised questions about the technological interpretations of Gandhi. My dear friend, Dr. Sudarshan Iyengar mentioned several characteristics that may qualify an innovation to be Gandhian. Dr. Mashelkar stressed very poignantly that, “peer parai jane re” i.e., ability to understand the pain of others was an inherent feature of Gandhian solution in any field. To me, it was a effort of “Srijansheelta borne out of samvedana” i.e. innovation borne out of empathetic perceptions of the societal problems. The decentralized manufacture or fabrication of a solution will be preferred by Gandhi over any centralized system of planning or manufacture. Gandhi would also like the problems of the most disadvantaged to be included in the agenda. He would not like us to waste materials or design such products, which lend themselves to production of much waste. Greenness of a technology was embedded in his famous quote about the world having enough for everybody’s need but not for one’s greed. More than 5000 entries received by sristi through Techpedia.in could not have been shortlisted without some guiding principles. We looked at novelty, social application, environment friendliness, frugality, empathy, and in a separate category, the stretching of technological edge. Experts from many institutions PERD, IITB, IITGN, GTU, etc., besides many retired scientists, experts from private sector and NIF helped in shortlisting process. The MLM [more from less for many] that Dr. Mashelkar has been advocating includes these principles.
Not all technologies awarded would have optimized or maximized each of these principles equally. Let us take the case of a convertible manual stair climbing wheel chair by Shanu Sharma from IIT Kanpur. Shanu did not want to include a motor because she knew that will be the question often asked. Her fear was that addition of complexity might preclude affordability. She studied the way a child climbs the stairs sitting backward and she mimicked that in the basic frame. She is now designing a chair which will climb as well as move on the level surface. She had also worked on a hand pump integrated with a filtration system plus disinfection system using ultra violet LEDs. Kirti, Sankhya and Susanth from IIT Kharagpur were awarded for a similar concept with different design. Pratik Gandhi, Chintak, Sumit, Bhargav, Priyesh and Vanraj from LD College of Engineering, Ahmedabad developed another version of wheel chair which could be navigated by the pressure of the head, movement of tongue and also joystick. Saurabh and Rahul of Bhutta College of Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana developed a very interesting application for deaf people. They generally use a sign language to communicate their thoughts. Unless one knows the sign language, it becomes difficult to communicate. But, deaf and dumb people may like to make friends with people with normal hearing. What these young innovators from Punjab did was to map the signs through image processing software into text and then convert it text into speech so that the other person can hear what they are saying. The normal conversation can take place when the same system converts the voice on the other side into signs. This is really an empathetic innovation which big labs with big money have not been able to develop. I will discuss about a few other innovations next week but let me highlight that unless we can invest in these ideas, help them become products and services, mere recognition will not help. I hope that the readers will reflect and also act on the imperative action. We need resources from masses for developing innovations also for masses. Shortly, SRISTI will launch a crowd funding platform where people can contribute small amounts for taking such ideas forward. If you want to join such efforts, write back. We can experience Gandhi through such small steps of connection, compassion, collaboration and creativity.
Anil K Gupta
