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International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at Grassroots ICCIG 2019 |
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Blending Curiosity of grassroots innovators with the commitment of |
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"in continuation of the ICCIG 4 report (published in the last issue of Honey Bee newsletters) the session on second day, Jan 29, 2020, started with a strong Gandhian view that change in one self has the power to transform the entire society as if they are a part of a single-family. Feeling for the suffering of others can move the mountains and bring change for the upliftment of the underprivileged. The plenary session was chaired by Prof. Vijaya Sherry Chand (Chairperson, RJMCEI), who paid his tribute to Mahatma and to his song ‘Vaishnav Jan’ for its embedded values that are flowing endlessly, and where every drop has the potential to catalyze a change. Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed (C-CAMP, Program Director) emphasized the role of funding agencies in grassroots innovations. He gave insight on the vital issues revolutionizing the health and medicinal sector and also touched on sensitive areas like the aging of the population, re-emergence of superbugs resistant to antibiotics and termed them as the ‘Global healthcare Tsunami’. He also highlighted how a lack of clarity and articulation of the problems at the grassroots level remained one of the major obstacles in the diffusion of innovation. On the ongoing issue of ‘Great Indian Agrarian Crisis,’ Dr. T N Prakash (Chairman, Agri Price Commission, Karnataka) added a new perspective to find the way out of crisis. He asked whether root of this agrarian crisis lies in farming or farmer? He cited the example of Karnataka, where 21 lakh hectares of cultivable land was left fallow due to the acute problem farmer’s suicide in the region. In a country where 52 farmers commit suicide every week, the assurance of doubling farmer’s income within five years by the government may not be feasible immediately. He suggested that reducing the cost of production by reducing rental income is one of the most vital solutions. He emphasized that the solution lies in the efficient farming and its implementation and not only in increasing production. To provide an ecosystem for sustainable development, Dr. Ted Moallem (Director of MakerWala Trust) e added the phrase- ‘Do you see junk or treasure?’, to help children learn from junk equipment, to modify already existing technology into a better one. Prof. Chetan Solanki explained the significance of the solar energy sector in meeting the sustainable development goals (SDGs). He detailed the ‘Gandhi Global Solar Yatra’ model as Gandhian ‘Energy Swaraj’, where every village has its own solar energy generating system and as a cost-effective method of producing energy at the individual level. Dr. Vipin Kumar (Director, NIF ) shared a story of a collaborative work of NIF and ICMR for the treatment of Cataract and highlighted that how NIF felicitated innovators to be an entrepreneur by filing for the patents. More than one thousand patents have been filed for innovations and many big companies are ready to license them. Product designing is an important part, to see the product with the consumer’s eye is crucial for a product to be successful in the market. Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti (Professor and Chairman, CPDM, IISC Bangalore) stressed on the importance of bringing the design and manufacturing of the product together and explained about Med Tech and Geriatric Healthcare (CPDM) as an affordable health care initiative for elderly.
The celebration of the Festival of Inclusive Innovations for Social Transformation (FIIST) started with the session themed on Scaling up in Rural Innovation, where Prof. Anand B Rao (IIT Bombay) detailed the role of Rural Technology Action Group Professor highlighted the need for the development of support structure and policy environment in rural areas. Mr. Manish Shah (VP LJIT) shared a success story of the digitization of the 437 villages of Ahemdabad District by the engineering students at his institute. The 50-year-old idea of ‘Rural Technological Park’ for empowering the rural innovators was explained by Prof. Ramesh Sakhtivel (NIRDPR Hyderabad). Shri JiJi Mammen (CGM NABARD) narrated a successful combined effort of NABARD, Technology Incubation Centre and an engineering unit, for developing a machine to polish the utensils from inside and outside, with more efficiency and reduced occupational health hazard related to polishing. The success of NABARD Gurukuls as a self-sustainable model was also shared by him, where vocational training is provided to the school dropouts and the trainees are also assisted to find job placement. The successful effort of sugarcane farmers in making jaggery, specifically in North India, and the solution provided by the Indian Institute of Petroleum with their innovation was narrated by Mr. Pankaj Arya (CSIR, IIP). Prof. Jayendran Venkateshwaran explained policies can be scaled deep, based on the need of a community to make it more impactful.
The session on Policies for Grassroots Educational Innovation was chaired by Prof Kathan Shukla. The effective use of ICT (information and communication technologies) in the education for primary school children was stressed by Mr. Mehul Prajapati of the Mehsana District. He uses a blog and a YouTube channel for innovative learning experiences for students and teachers. Bharat Singh Vaghela explained that for an impactful education system in rural areas it is necessary to connect emotionally with the local community. Sharing their grief and happiness produces a conducive environment for a child’s education. Akhil Paul emphasized the need for a focus on the education of deaf and blind people. He had done commendable work in collaboration with the United Nations to make changes in the PwD Act (Persons with Disability) for achieving better education for every child. Dr. Madhulika Sagaram talked about her collaborative work with government schools and students to make changes in the syllabus, design curriculum based on children’s needs and where students were asked to design their curriculum. For instance, she introduced games focused on physical activities of children and tailored biology classes with Kuchipudi dance movements. Ashok Parmar talked about how he helped in making mathematics easy and interesting to learn for the school students. Gautam Indrodia underlined the importance of sustainable development and environmental education and how he educates his school children at a tender age to nurture future minds for sustainable innovations.
The session on a Dialogue among Agricultural and Livestock Innovators and Traditional Knowledge Holders for Rural Development, chaired by Sri Ramesh Patel (SRISTI). Dr. Ravi Kumar, NIF, elaborated about the enduring need for a dialogue between agricultural/ livestock innovators and traditional knowledge holders for the rural development.
Sri Ramesh Patel (SRISTI) emphasized the need for a collaboration between the formal and the informal sector in the area concerning the livestock. He had also highlighted the brilliance of some of the healers in Kuchh (Gujarat) as the keeper of traditional knowledge for maintaining the livestock health as traditional Vaidya.
[Two farmer innovators, Sri Ramaji Bhimaji Parmar, a national awardee, from Aravalli District in Gujarat and Sri Harshadbhai Patel from Bochasan, Gujarat had patents in their name for their traditional medicines for
treating the livestock diseases.]
Bhimajibhai talked about his ayurvedic medical preparations that he uses for treating a variety of livestock diseases, for instance - care and treatment of pregnant animals and their offspring, stones, diabetes, ankle pain, etc. Dr. Ravi Kumar and Dr. Sameer Patel (Sabar Dairy), also shared their perspective. The example of Sabar Dairy truly highlights the valuable contribution of the traditional knowledge system in combination with modern livestock drugs.
The last session of the day on Reaching the Last mile: Diffusion of Grassroots Innovation and Practices for and from Grassroots was chaired by Dr. Nitin Maurya, Coordinator, NIF cell, IIT Guwahati and Prof.
G.M. Bhatt, GIAN cell, Srinagar University, welcomed the participants and and admired the work done by ten Padma Shri awardee farmers and the power of grassroots innovation. Mr. Sethrichem Sangtam from Nagaland, is the founder of ‘Better Life Foundation’ (2009) that focused on rural livelihood security, education for a change and environment sustainability. His foundation strongly favors the participation of local women community for women empowerment. He also lamented that hardly any machinery was tailored according to the need of farmers in the hill region for mountain agriculture. The case study of CCTea, a Manipur based entrepreneur who used his idea to innovate, convert it to marketable product and empowered the local community of Manipur, was presented by Dr. Premi Devi. Dr. Prashant Srivastav (BHU) elaborated about his collaborative work on a Smart irrigation app using the sensors in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to know which part of the field requires how much water. His team also prepared microbial Cocktail to use it on soil depending upon the crop. Anjali Lakum (Central University Gujarat) explained about the formal and informal chains of diffusion of the innovation. She also covered numerous methods involved in the online business portal. She talked about many organizations like SRISTI, GIAN, NIF for assisting grassroots innovators to make their website and get directly in touch with the consumer. Avinash Bhandari (IIMA) explained about www.inshodh.org, meant for bringing social change and include the open access, free to use educational innovations. ‘Teachers as Transformers’ and currently has more than 5.5 lakh views. In the end, Prof. Bhatt also talked about grassroots innovation relevant for the rural areas in Kashmir and their diffusion. The power of innovation lies in meeting the needs of the environment and society, he added.
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 30(2) ,9-12, 2019 |
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