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Honey bee publish details |
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DIALOGUE |
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Potential investment in a grassroots innovation
Kriti Malhotra,
itirk.lsr@gmail.com
My team is interested in impact investment. We are trying to identify a grassroots rural innovator who needs investment in her/his product that could also be marketed via the distribution network we have. It would be great if you could guide us or suggest to us how we could go about identifying a grassroots rural innovator needing investment subject to the following criteria.
(a) It has to be a grassroots rural innovator (b) The product should potentially be a solution for a problem faced by the BoP (Base of Pyramid), f or example, MittiCool (refrigerator) (c) The amount of investment as of now is 10 lakhs INR (would vary depending on the requirement, need).
Our team at NIF will help you to identify such innovators. We hope that many such investors like you come up to help the innovators in different capacities to become entrepreneurs and serve the unmet needs of our society at the margins. –Ed.
A book on Quechuan and Aymaran Community Knowledge
Maruja Salas,
mas49@gmx.net
The book “The Voices and the Flavours From The Earth - Visualising Food Sovereignty in the Andes” by Maruja Salas and the wise elders network from the Altiplano of Peru and accompanying web pages are now live on the IIED website. Here are the links to
access them: Learning to value mother earth. http://www.iied.org/learning-value-mother-earth, Voices and
flavours of the Earth http://www.iied.org/voices-flavours-earth-food-sovereignty-andes
This book reflects the testimonies of the wise elders from Quechua and Aymara communities in the highlands of Peru about the right to the culture of food. It is a plea for the scientists to respond with their research to the needs of the elders and the larger public good. A detailed description of the dialogue between farmers and scientists is part of this documentation.
Thanks Maruja for sharing this information. HBN has always believed in the wisdom of the old and the ancient and will continue to do in the future. –Ed.
A request for tie-up from BITS- Pilani
Aditya Bhatt,
aditya.bitspilani1@gmail.com
I am writing to tell you about BITS Pilani which is an all-India Institute for higher education. The primary motive of BITS is to train young men and women able and eager to create and put into action such ideas, methods, techniques and information. BITS symbolises the maturing of Indian technical ability and “can-do” entrepreneurial spirit.
BITS has always strived towards creating an innovation driven ecosystem through research, academics and entrepreneurship. Hence, we would like to have a tie-up with the Honey Bee Network to promote social entrepreneurship and grassroots innovation at BITS Pilani. This would greatly help us in fostering research driven innovation on campus, and help the young men and women achieve their dream careers and participate in active research.
I must concede that Akash, Arpita, Anjum, Vipul, and may be others from BITS Pilani are few of the most outstanding interns who have been with us and have made significant contribution towards the Honey Bee Network.
The idea to forge close linkages with the student community which is most desirable and long overdue. I would like if the above friends also join the discussion and add to the ideas.
Exploring possible collobaration with the Honey Bee Network
Rachel DePalma,
rdepalma@wisc.edu
My name is Rachel DePalma. I am a student at the University of Wisconsin Madison in the United States. Currently, I am part of a class working on sustainable agriculture innovations for a client of ours, the Farley Centre. Our client is interested in collaborating with the Honey Bee Network, and I am emailing you to inquire about contact information and how our client can get involved with you. Please send me some information about how we can get involved with the Honey Bee Network.
We would be most happy to explore the cooperation that you propose with HBN. The Centre would get full support from HBN.
There are many things we can do:
a) We can develop simple sustainable land use, agriculture, farm experiments/expeditions which members of the Centre can pursue, for example they can look at the way different biomass decompose with or without inoculation from already degraded compost.
b) We can also look at the effect of stroking on young seedlings and see their growth with or without stroking and then experience the impact of positive feedback
c) The Centre members can download IGNITE and other award books from nif.org.in and try to see how children and adults can be creative, maybe they can go to schools and organise idea competitions and absorb the positive energy from kids.
We can think of many other ways in which synergy can be explored, stories of centenarians can be documented, read and reflected upon. Please let me know if you have any other ideas. I would request you to set up a Honey Bee Innovation Club in your college. This will sow enduring seeds of the Honey Bee Network in the USA. –Ed.
A barefoot scientist from Amreli
Karimbhai B. Pathan, Liliya, Amreli, Gujarat
I was a diamond merchant. I only had the opportunity to read seven textbooks in my lifetime. However, I have learned more about science than study. I have collected more than 70 projects and put them in a small museum called “Vigyan Bhavan” (Science Centre). The museum has prototypes for
1. Earthquake alert system
2. Automatic controller for submersible motor, water tanks, etc.
3. Automatic unmanned railway crossing
4. A burglar alarm system for protection jewellery in houses, temples etc.
5. Fencing around a farm
6. Automatic control system for operating gates in rivers or canals
7. Remote controlled submersible pumps and street lights
There are other prototypes which could be used for various day to day activities.
With age my eyesight is weakening, but there is so much to do. I want to develop an LPG gas leakage system among many other things. I am thankful to SRISTI for honouring me in 2008 which brought a lot of pride to me. People come and visit this museum from many different places. My aim is to see more people to start finding solutions to their problem on their own. I want to meet such individuals and organisations.
Dear Karimbhai, I appreciate your never diminishing curiosity and your impatience to live with problem. We wish there are more like you who are equally curious and anxious. –Ed.
Drinking water for birds
Mavjibhai Bhatia, Nalasar, Banaskantha, Gujarat
The birds that were seen 20 years back are no longer visible nowadays. In summers, it is very important to have appropriate arrangements for providing drinking water to birds. Planting of Indigenous trees which are useful to the birds is extremely critical. I want to reach out to citizens and encourage them to take initiatives to provide bowls or other facilities for drinking water for various animals and birds in their surroundings.
Dear Mavjibhai, I do hope that readers will take note of your compassionate request. We would also request our readers to make arrangement for countless organism around us. –Ed.
A movement to repay the enormous debt, the earth owes to us
Kishorebhai Bhatt, Bhavnagar, Gujarat
For the last 15 years, we are working to repay the earth’s debt. In this process, we have been distributing packets of seeds of around 200-300 types of medicinal and indigenous plants to students and farmers. We have also developed many seasonal diets and moringa soup and juice. With the help of Dilipbhai Shah from Kalyan, we have erected more than 250 chabutras (bird feeding towers) in primary and secondary schools to inculcate environmental values in young students. We often get support from Dilipbhai and Nishitbhai Mehta as well as many other known unknown well wishers. Please contact us if you are interested.
Dear Kishorebhai, Nishitbhai and Dilipbhai, we cannot possibly thank you enough. We hope our readers will take note and join in or support your movement with all their hearts. –Ed.
Box items
Ideas for youth to engage with HBN
a) Have regional shodhyatras of at least one week in term break through self designed, self organised autopoeitic leadership.
b) Have at least five interest groups which can evolve into full-fledged groups in due course and have their presence on our site as full fledged collaborators:
b1. Educational Innovations-We can aim at 1000 open source Indian language lessons for our children at all levels of education in next two years conveying different concepts in math and science and English language. Similarly, this group can pool innovations from any school or college and make the world’s largest open source database of innovations in education. We also want students to help in tagging various entries at techepdia. in and it should be updated with BITS Pilani project summaries at the soonest. b2. Cultural Creativity- Arpita did an admirable work which remains to be followed up and strengthened so that cultural context from Shodhyatra and other sources can be up at sristi.org/cultural in a proper way. Any one anywhere can upload the content about street artists with some contact information
b3. Common Property Institutions- We believe this is going to become an extremely important source of survival for communities and nations as the resources become scarce. Akash had updated it but this needs to be updated every year, in various ways from around the world. We have to find volunteers who will translate all of this content into local languages.
b4.Technological Innovations- at www.sristi.org, www.honeybee.org and www.nif.org.in should be tagged, annotated with other similar technologies and some should be taken up for value addition by the students. –Ed.
b5. National Innovation Club- search, spread, celebrate innovations and sense that is document the unmet social needs in your hinterland in coming summer vacation. |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 24(4) 21-22, 2014 |
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