Draft, 2002, December 31
Transforming Indian Mind:
From Victim to a Victor’s Perspective
Anil K. Gupta[1]
A tribute to Dr. Mashelkar, is a tribute to the spirit of Renaissance in Indian science and technology. Perhaps not many people appreciate that his commitment to science and technology at the grassroots by the innovators in what he calls as, ‘laboratories of life’, is even more epochal. It is not only in India that he has led the grassroots innovation movement as a Chairperson of National Innovation Foundation (NIF) set up in March 2000 but also globally he has kept the flag for recognizing, respecting and rewarding peoples’ knowledge flying. Having been blessed with his affection and infection of incorrigible optimism about Indian destiny, I have no doubt in saying that many changes triggered by Dr. Mashelkar will remain irreversible. I will turn next to some of these irreversible changes in the Indian science and technology innovation systems.
a)Laboratories belong to people outside the lab not within:
It may appear paradoxical to some to suggest that the public sector labs belong to people outside the lab rather within it. But one of the first challenge he had to face after taking over CSIR was to essentially convey this message to all the people across different levels and divisions in every lab. There were colleagues who believed that accountability to society at large was subordinate to the goal of meeting the professional interests of the scientific workers themselves. He argued for overcoming the dichotomy between the interests of the workers in the lab and the interests of the clients and constituents outside. Once this dichotomy was removed, the attention of the leaders in the lab shifted towards crossing the frontiers of science and technology rather than just crossing the roadblocks within the labs. Some might have considered this move controversial, but which leader has achieved a breakthrough without courting controversies.
b)Mining the Minds: The intellectual capital as the major asset of Indian society
The growth of patents filed and obtained by CSIR labs within the country and outside demonstrate an unique pattern. As against hardly two-and-half percent share of the universities in the patents by Indians filed in US in the last 26 years, the share of CSIR was almost one-third of the total patents filed and obtained. It goes without saying that majority of these were obtained in the last five to six years. Never before the mind of so many scientists and technologists had been mined for ideas, innovations, and institutional initiatives as done during his tenure. And obviously, mining of minds couldn’t have taken place involuntarily. The Team CSIR was the key force behind this transformation. I will not recount other achievements of CSIR, which I am sure other colleagues would do a better job of, then I can do. But I would certainly argue that the turning around of Indian S&T capacities through partnership with industry, communities, and informal sector had never been achieved at this scale, speed and with such a synergy ever before. It is natural that in a transformative process of this kind, new benchmarks would be created for personal and professional excellence. What can be a better benchmark than producing the most cited/impactful research paper of the year (which he published along with one of his PhD student), while performing mundane administrative chores? Today when many scientists vie for administrative positions and abandon their links with science as they move up in their career, this kind of pursuit of scientific excellence should inspire most of us in academics.
c)Engineering Entrepreneurship: overcoming policy barriers
Perhaps millions of dollars raised by the labs wouldn’t be counted as significantly when roll call of major s and t policy initiatives will be taken, as the interventions through technology development board, millennium technology initiative, Technopreneurial Promotion Programme (TePP) of DST and DSIR and setting up of NIF. The TePP deserves a special mention despite its small financial outlay because it heralded a new concept in promoting innovations by individuals unattached to any institution. GIAN (Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network) set up first in 1997 in Gujarat with the help of Gujarat government, SRISTI and IIMA, as a grassroots innovation promotion fund was able to access significant TePP funds to convert many innovations into enterprises. In one of the most successful case, investment of Rs.6 lakhs in an innovative cotton stripper had led to turnover of more than two crores within three years. The patents for this technological innovation have been filed in India as well as US with the help of GIAN, SRISTI and NIF. It took 50 years for Indian science and technology to recognize that entrepreneurship was not a dirty word. It is true that not many scientists have still worn two hats of scientists as well as entrepreneurs, but the day is not very far when that would happen in a big way. Bureaucratic strangleholds have been cited as one of the major reasons coming in the way of public private partnership. Those who know Dr. Mashelkar’s style of decision making will be able to recall large number of cases where procedures were made subservient to performance without compromising with the ethical and efficiency standards.
d)Bridging the Innovation Divide:
Forging partnership between formal and informal science is a long held dream of Honey Bee Network, which we have tried to pursue for over a decade and half. The first such formal agreement with CSIR lab (NBRI) was signed only this year heralding a new era of partnership between innovators at grassroots level and formal scientific innovators and experts. This partnership was imperative in a knowledge economy. Making India innovative is a precursor for making India a developed country. One cannot make India innovative unless the tremendous creative and innovative spirit at grassroots is tapped in a compassionate, constructive and rather urgent manner. Setting up of NIF (National Innovation Foundation) was a major milestone in the journey started by Honey Bee Network 15 years ago. Much before CBD and WTO came into force, Honey Bee Network believed that the intellectual property rights of the grassroots green innovators and traditional knowledge holders were as inalienable as any other human rights. The only resource in which poor people are rich is their knowledge and if this is taken away without any fair attribution, compensation or acknowledgement, the process of development cannot be dignified. The concept of prior informed consent (PIC) has been formalized by NIF before instituting such a requirement in the legal system of the country or for that matter globally. Seven-fold increase in number of entries and innovations and TK examples from over 300 districts of the country is an achievement that raises more expectations than can be addressed by the human and financial capacity of NIF. As is obvious, when 13500 innovations and examples of traditional knowledge from more than six thousand innovators and TK holders were received in 2001-02, the issue of Indian innovativeness could not be brushed aside any more. The announcement in the Parliament in 2002 budget speech about micro venture fund heralded a new hope of valorizing thousands of innovations and traditional knowledge examples documented by NIF. It is possible that determination to build value chain around each innovation through a distributed mentoring and management support system may seem an impossible utopia to most financial institutions at this stage. However, without doing that we would not be able to harness the economic and efficiency advantage of these innovations. A new model of poverty alleviation and generating employment awaits a bold and meaningful exploration. What has been demonstrated so far only shows that one can ignore the urges of creative people for long time and over large area but once the imagination has been unlocked, the power so unleashed can break the biggest barrier. Inertia of unconvinced policy makers will have to give way eventually.
Dr. Mashelkar had put this message succinctly in his opening remarks at the second award function at which Honorable President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam gave away the awards to the innovators and TK holders. Dr. Mashelkar suggested three pronged approach to bridge the innovation divide, achievement of scale, synergy and sustainability. NIF has made an attempt to implement this approach in its short institutional journey of about two-and –half years and that too with a small team.
I am unfortunately unable to express my sentiments and the feelings of all my colleagues in Honey Bee Network, SRISTI, GIANs and NIF besides IIMA, in person due to a small personal mishap experienced in 10th Shodh Yatra in Madurai last week. Having walked for about 1800 kilometers through hundreds of villages in different parts of the country through 10 Shodh Yatras over last five years, we have witnessed a silent revolution going on in the country side and in small towns, slums and other disadvantaged regions. The stirrings of this revolution would transform the victim’s perspective that we seem to suffer from in India to a victor’s perspective by recasting the Indian mind. The seeds of discord have been sown, the vote of no confidence against the inertia of centuries has been passed and a small step to shift the scientific discourse in favour of creative genius at grassroots has been taken.
The ripples of Indian innovation movement have already influenced the commonwealth science council. In a recent ministerial gathering, Dr. Mashelkar’s forceful plea tilted the agenda of the council so that it could evolve into the commonwealth innovation network in the years to come. Whether it is the commission on intellectual property rights, or the proceedings of the Royal Society in England or the meetings of American Academy of Advancement of Science, there isn’t a professional frontier waiting to be assailed by his deep seated faith in basic human values and innovative potential of people in developing countries. It is not for nothing that he evokes the same respect among leaders of industry, polity across party lines and S and T institutions as among the thousands of unsung heroes and heroines of our country.
My personal regret is that I have still not been able to acquire half as much efficiency as I see in his disposition in everyday life. It is not just the efficiency that he has come to characterize in his decision making style. It is the intensity of his passion imbued with his faith in basic goodness of people who he has helped become leaders in their own fields. When a leader can not only tolerate but also nurture potential leaders who can perhaps surpass him one day, he becomes an institution. Dr. Mashelkar has already created one more benchmark. One more challenge for all of us to aspire for.
[1] K.L. Chair Professor of Entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and Executive Vice Chair, National Innovation Foundation and Coordinator, Honey Bee Network.
This tribute is a humble offering by a student of his academy of excellence. I consider Dr. Mashelkar’s life as an academy in which he has very kindly allowed me to enroll and become part of. It is natural that I am biased and only see the positive side of his life and personality. I know that like all of us, he may have his own quota of failures and shortcomings. But these inadequacies make him even more accessible and intimate. My colleagues in NIF and Honey Bee Network wish him many years of long life and hope that his leadership would continue to challenge all of us to transcend our own limits of performance, perseverance and passion for change in favour of knowledge rich economically poor people.