Monday, June 13, 2005

Making Technology work for Poor

I attended Dr. R. A. Mashelkar's(Director General-CSIR) Public Lecture on "Making High Technology Work for Indian Poor" at National Institute of Oceanography [NIO], Dona Paula, Goa. The ocassion was the realease of NIO booklet Sagar (11 June 2005).

Here are some ideas and salient points from Dr. Mashelkar's Lecture, which I felt was very similar to what Prof. C. K. Prahlad talks about in his book "Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid". The topic of the lecture was suggested by Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Over 4 billion people living at less than two dollars per day. Dr. Mashelkar emphasised on making high technology work for poor in education, health care, energy, connectivity was the focal point of the lecture. In education, he gave the example of Mr. F.C. Kohli's initiative of Computer based Functional Literacy Program [CBFL], that has succeded in making 40,000 Indians literate with a cost of less than 2 dollars. Dr. Mashelkar later made a point that what India needs is "community based " schemes, and not one-computer for every Indian schemes. He stated that Indian rural folk share village resources. Similarly, high technology can become successful only if it is introduced through village STD-ISD booths, kiosks, chaupals (ITC e-chaupal being another example).

On health care, Dr. Mashelkar gave the example of a Sanitary Napkin developed by CSIR laboratories. Sanitary Napkins are made of super-absorbent material(absorb 200-400 percent fluids), and thus very expensive. One of the CSIR labs took up the challenge of making a super-absorbent with the same performance but at a lesser price. They finally succeded in making an alternative material at a cost of one ruppee. He said it all depends on maintaining the performance. It can make a huge difference to poor women whose personal health and hygiene leads to better living. Price-Performance in high technology is crucial to reach the poor. He went on to give the example of Aravind Eye Hospital eye care and their success in providing quality eye care at low cost. The quality of care is very high(low failures in cataract operations), and at a lower price (refer the case study on Aravind Eye Hospital).

His examples in energy management included using bullock carts to power reverse osmosis plants, and the anti-virus water purifying plant (patent) for villages. In connectivity, he gave examples of Dr. Ashok Jhunjunwalla's WLL technology.
Though the lecture was inspiring, the question answer session were he said more should be done in the field of disaster management in coastal areas. His advice was to increase awareness about remedies available in ancient Indian medicine, science, and ingenious methods that Indians fail to document.
I feel we neglect our ingenuity. We donot document any finding, only to loose it to an American who patents the finding.

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