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Honey bee publish details |
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News & Views |
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News & Views |
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SRISTI SAMMAN 2007
Ahmedabad, India: SRISTI, for the twelfth year in succession felicitated institutions and people who have made a significant contribution to society in preserving natural resources and biodiversity, innovated new ways of solving technological or educational or institutional problems, or have distinguished themselves in various fields of traditional knowledge.
The function was organized on 29th February 2008 at SRISTI premises in Ahmedabad, and was attended by innovators, farmers, herbal healers and Honey Bee Network collaborators from different parts of the country. Eighty people and institutions, engaged in pursuits mentioned above, were honoured. The function was preceded by the SRISTI annual meeting, which was attended by a large gathering of volunteers, scouts, well wishers of the SRISTI and HBN family. The awardees had a chance to share their life and work with the audience on the previous evening.
Among the awardees, we had a young student, Surender from Haryana who could remember tables up to 1100; Baba Bhundu Ram, also from Haryana who has been single handedly spearheading a campaign to plant trees in his area; Arun Kumar Ram from Kolkata who made a human mask to prevent tigers from attacking men in Sunderbans; C S Kambali, Karnataka who had dug dozens of wells to recharge the ground water; Ghulam Mohammad Mir, Kashmir who made a singing lantern; Akshyay Pattnaik, Orissa who is developing a museum of traditional implements; Kamruddin Saifi with his innovative chaff cutter with brakes; Hirabaiben Lobi, a woman entrepreneur; a centenarian, Prof A R Rao who makes learning mathematics pleasurable; and many others.
The awardees were happy to receive the recognition and to learn about others who are doing similar work. Some of them remarked that perhaps it was the first time that their work was recognized by somebody. It was indeed with the same thought — to acknowledge such unrecognized efforts from society – that SRISTI initiated this Samman in 1995 and it was heartwarming to see the awardees remotivated and recharged to carry on their respective missions.
Honey Bee Network Meeting, Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad, India: On February 28th 2008, the Honey Bee Network(HBN) organized its annual meeting at SRISTI premises, Ahmedabad, where the HBN collaborators from different parts of the country gave presentations on their work in the preceding year. It was a rejuvenating exercise wherein the members learned a great deal from each other.
The Network members met again the following evening to discuss strategies for strengthening the Network, and increasing solidarity, mutual trust and accountability among themselves and towards the society. It was specifically pointed out that while the Network was able to document a large number of practices from different parts of the country, the dissemination part was highly inadequate, and special efforts were needed to improve this important function which is an integral part of the Honey Bee philosophy. It was also agreed that the members needed to meet and update each other more often than they have been doing till now.
In order to smoothen the functioning of the Network, a committee to oversee various functional aspects of the Network was formed under the coordinatorship of Dr T N Prakash, Bengaluru, who was unanimously elected as the Network coordinator. The members hoped that the committee would be able to shoulder some of the responsibilities of the Network coordinator and help him in coordination of the Network, which is growing by every passing day.
China-National Workshop on Grassroot Innovations (GRI)
Tianjin, China: The Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), New Delhi, and the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (TUFE), Tianjin, organized the fourth national workshop on March 21-22, 2008 in Tianjin, China, with SRISTI being the Knowledge Partner.
The aim of the workshop was to train stakeholders in selected countries to take necessary measures to develop and adopt institutional mechanisms for scouting, documentation and dissemination (SDD) of grassroots innovations. Purpose was to enhance the capacity of Governments and other stakeholders in building upon grassroots innovations in Asia and the Pacific for larger social good. The social benefits were noticed in various areas, including agriculture,
health (e.g. herbal/traditional medicine), food security (e.g. food processing and preservation practices) and mechanical techniques. It was discussed that GRI could also help in triggering technology based enterprises, and promote seeding of tiny and small-scale industries.
Participants from China, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Malaysia presented the progress on GRI in their countries. Interestingly, in all these countries their respective governments have included GRI in their national policies. However, the progress in Malaysia and Indonesia is a bit slow. Tianjin University of Finance and Economics mobilized a large number of students for scouting grassroots innovations. They organized an exhibition of many of these innovations. The highlight of the workshop was the inauguration of SRISTI-TUFE
Twin Center for grassroots innovations.
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| Volume No. |
Hb19(1) January-March 2008 |
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