IITian starts NGO to promote rural innovations

[quote:54a6ff7265]Back to roots: IITian gives all up for NGO
Amrita Chaudhry
Posted online: Saturday, June 26, 2004 at 1403 hours IST

Ludhiana, June 26: His main task is to look for indigenous innovations and market them.

A post-graduate in mechanical engineering from IIT Roorkee, who had a 10 year teaching stint in IIT Mumbai, followed by high profile jobs in the private sector, UN and the World Bank, life has taken Dr Shishir C. Bhaduri places. Finally, bringing him back to his roots, with the help of an NGO named Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN).

‘‘I chucked up all this to work for this NGO last year and can safely say that I just followed the voice of my conscience,’’ says Bhaduri.

Citing the problems of high profile IITs and the IIMs, Dr Bhaduri, says, ‘‘Basically, these institutions are removed from reality. They ensure fat pay packets and nothing else. But then sooner or later, one realises we cannot survive on borrowed things, which includes technology. Teaching in an IIT for me was becoming like less of teaching and more of preaching, with the students simply nodding to all that I said. There were no challenges.’’

Challenges, as per Dr Bhaduri, are abundant in this NGO, whose northern office is headed by him. His main task is to ‘look for indigenous innovations, study them thoroughly and see if they can be marketed. ‘‘From the nine states, which I cover in the north I have 20 such innovations in my portfolio and each day I have a new challenge at hand,’’ says he.

‘‘Innovators are radicals and cannot become entrepreneurs. steering them to earn from their innovation, commercialising them, modifying them is a challenging task which I love to do,’’ he adds.

Above all, Dr Bhaduri feels that, ‘‘innovations take place primarily in the unorganised unsupported sector. History is full of examples, which show that major innovations of the world were done either by the radicals or by those who needed them the most. But then the IIT and the IIMs are structured institutions, where innovations cannot take place, at the most modification can be done to existing models in this institutions and this is least challenging.’’

Sharing some of his experiences, Dr Bhaduri says, ‘‘I travel to villages, where people have devised simple things to ease their lives and each place that I have to go I have to dress up like the natives so that they can depose their faith in me. If I am dressed in trousers and shirt, no one will talk to me so I have to dress in dhoti kurta or kurta pyjama.’’

‘‘At times people claim that a said innovation is done by them. When I probe further I will come to know that others in the village are putting these innovations to use. But then, my task is get the first man, who made the innovation. This task at times take many days,’’ explains Bhaduri.[/quote:54a6ff7265]
Source : http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=33078