Transform – how IITs, IITians and pan-IIT can help transform rural development Sessions 1 and 2 in this track have showcased inspiring contributions in rural India as well as innovative imperatives to catalyze rural development. The IITs and IITians represent one of the most powerful ecosystems in India both based on their ability as well as willingness to transform rural India. This session will explore what role and what specific interventions the IITs, IITians and the pan-IIT organization should drive that will materially transform the development of rural India in a 5-10 year time horizon. The panelists will outline their perspective on the key priorities in rural India and suggest specific initiatives to be taken up by the IIT ecosystem. Participants will leave the session with clarity on specific ways they can participate in initiatives after the conference and make meaningful contributions to rural transformation. Session 3 : session Chair
Saturday,
Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m Venue: Kendra Vidyalaya (next to IC&SR bldg) IIT Madras
Presenters
Arvind KejriwalSaturday, Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.mAruna Roy Saturday, Dec 20th, 11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. Right to information Act (RTI)
Vijay MahajanSaturday Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.mBetter livelihoods through micro-credit
Institutional Development Services (IDS)
Livelihood Agricultural / Business Financial Services (LFS) Development Services (Ag/BDS)
The BASIX Livelihood Triad includes the following services.
The rationale behind the Livelihood Triad strategy is as follows: Micro-credit by itself is helpful for the more enterprising poor people in economically dynamic areas. Less enterprising poor households need to start with savings and insurance before they can benefit from micro-credit, because they need to cope with risk. However, in backward regions, poor people, in addition to microfinance, need a whole range of Agricultural/ Business Development Services (productivity enhancement, risk mitigation, local value addition, and market linkages) need to be provided. To offer these services in a cost-effective manner, it is not possible to work with poor households individually and they need to be organized into groups, informal associations and sometimes cooperatives or producer companies. The formation of such groups and making them function effectively, requires institutional development services. Hence the Livelihood Triad. Structure: BASIX is a Group of Companies, under a Holding Company, comprising a non-bank finance company, a local area bank and a section 25 company. Bhartiya Samruddhi Investments & Consulting Services Ltd. (Holding Company) Bhartiya Samruddhi Krishna Bhima Samruddhi Indian Grameen Finance Ltd (BSFL) Local Area Bank Ltd Services (IGS) (RBI registered Non Bank (RBI Licensed Bank) Sec 25 non-profit Company Finance Company, NBFC) Sarvodaya Nano CTRAN Consulting The Livelihood School Finance Ltd. (SNFL) Services Pvt Ltd (Livelihood knowledge Institution, (RBI registered Community Owned NBFC) (Energy & Environment, CDM) an autonomous Society)
Achievements: As of September, 2008, the BASIX Group works with over a million and a half customers, over 90% being rural poor households and about 10%, urban slum dwellers. BASIX works in 15 states and over 10,000 villages. It has a staff of over 3500, of which 80 percent are based in small towns and villages. About 500,000 poor households get micro-credit directly from BSFL or KBS Bank, while about 800,000 are covered through micro-insurance for life, health, crop, livestock and micro-enterprise assets. Another 200,000 customers get agricultural, livestock and non-farm business development services. Institutional development services are provided to BASIX customers’ groups (SHGs, dairy societies, farmers’ coops, etc.) as well as to over 100 smaller NGOs/MFIs, covering over 400,000 households indirectly.
Financials: The total assets under management are in the range of Rs 450 crore (USD 100 million). Cumulative micro-credit disbursements since inception in 1996 exceed Rs 1800 crore (USD 400 million) with a repayment rate exceeding 99.0%. The BASIX Group is reasonably profitable, with return on assets exceeding 2.0%, which enables it to attract additional rounds of equity required to maintain capital adequacy as per the RBI norms. Apart from equity, other sources of funds include deposits (only in the Local Area Bank), borrowings from banks and financial institutions. BSFL has a CRISIL credit rating of FA-, stable for the last several years.
Sources of Funding: Initial funding was from developmental sources. The Ford Foundation gave a USD 3 million loan (PRI) in 1996 to the holding company, which along with SFR 2.5 million (USD 1.75 million) from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and an earlier INR 10 million (USD 250,000) loan from the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, provided the start up funds for the BASIX Group. Later this was boosted with equity in BSFL from the IFC, Washington, Shorebank, USA, Hivos-Triodos Fund, Netherlands, the ICICI and the HDFC, together investing about Rs 10 crore. This was leveraged with borrowings from almost all major private sector and foreign banks, and also institutions like SIDBI. By 2007, BASIX has disbursed over 100 times this amount to poor households.
Governance: The main promoter of BASIX is Mr Vijay Mahajan, born 1954, and a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, 1975 and he served in a marketing position at Philips India Ltd. before studying at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 1979-81. He worked in the development sector since 1981 and founded PRADAN, a major NGO in the field of livelihood promotion for the poor, in 1983. He was a Fellow at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs studying economic development policy in 1988-89. He moved on from PRADAN in 1991 and after working as an independent trainer/researcher in the field of rural livelihoods, founded BASIX in 1996.
The holding company Board comprises Mr Deep Joshi, MIT alumnus, and co-founder of PRADAN, a major NGO in the field of livelihood promotion for the poor; Ms Bharti Gupta Ramola, IIMA alumnus, Executive Director of Financial Services in PricewaterhouseCoopers; Mr Loganathan, founder of ASSEFA, a Gandhian NGO; Mr Anoop Seth, a career banker, currently heading AMP Infrastructure Fund; Mr Joe Madiath, founder of Gram Vikas, a major NGO in Orissa. Board members of all companies are professionals from the field of development, finance & management.
Management Team: Mr Vijay Mahajan is the Group CEO of BASIX and is assisted by a 14 member Management Council. Each of the group companies has a CEO or a COO. Mr D Sattaiah is COO of BSFL; Mr Hemanth Valvekar, is Group VP for the Rajasthan Livelihood Promotion Initiative; Mr Ramachandran is the Group CFO and CTO; Mr BL Parthasarathy, CEO of KBS Bank will head BASIX Consulting Services; Mr Manmath Dalai is the COO of the KBS Bank; Mr Ashok Singha is CEO of CTRAN Consulting Services; Mr Arijit Dutta is the COO of IGS; Mr Amarnath is the Group VP for Agricultural, Livestock and Business Development Services along with VP, Mr Subhash Jindal; Ms Rama K. is the Group VP for Institutional Development and Knowledge Management Services; Dr Sankar Datta is the Dean of the Livelihood School; Dr Narayana is the Principal of the BASIX Academy. Mr Anoop Kaul is Chief, North, and Mr PD Rai is Chief, Northeast respectively. (see detailed CVs on website)
Impact: Directly and indirectly, the BASIX Group has impacted the lives of at least five million poor people in India, through generating employment, reducing risks and enhancing incomes. BASIX’ pioneering work with self-help groups (SHGs) and its demonstration as an MFI has been one of the factors that led to a microfinance sector with 50 million customers and cumulative microcredit of over USD 6 billion. BASIX was asked by the GoI to serve on the Rangarajan Committee on Financial Inclusion and the Raghuram Rajan Committee on Financial Sector Reforms, 2008.
Honours: In 2003, Mr Vijay Mahajan was selected as one of the 60 Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs at the World Economic Summit, Davos, by the Schwab Foundation. In 2004, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by IIT Delhi.
Contact: Vijay Mahajan Chairman BASIX Ashok KalbagSaturday, Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.mA second chance for high school drop-outs  The Dream: Restore India to a glorious status in the world - prosperity with social justice. Compare Ashoka period when India sent out ambassadors of peace to the whole world and influenced the whole of Asia He called it Vigyan Ashram – vigyan means science, which was his religion, and ashram represented a value system with simple living and high thinking. The dream was followed by a vision of how it was to be achieved. Education was something which everyone felt needed to be revamped, and development in rural areas, evolved as the medium. Education through Development and Development through Education as a concept thus evolved. The main tenets on which Vigyan Ashram is based are: Learning by Doing - The more senses that are brought into the learning process, the better is the assimilation of knowledge. One has to only study a one year old child to appreciate this fact. Earn while you learn - In the underprivileged class of society, often every member of the family has to help earn their food. Hence, this system should not deter learning on this count. Besides, this teaches them to negotiate their skills to earn their livelihood in a real life situation. What better beginning for an entrepreneur in the making with mentoring. Multi-skill training - The exposure to the varied skills ignites the young minds to enable them to choose a career path of their liking. It also gives them confidence to learn a new skill in this fast changing world on their own. Community Service - The community benefits from the new services that the students provide. They pay for the services, hence will demand quality. It also ensures the students learn skills relevant to the community it serves. The original objective of taking science to the villages is not forgotten in any activity. The basic principles of any scientific activity are observation, measurement, recording, classification, documentation, exchange of information with others, developing hypotheses, testing them by further experiments and observation - is not only possible in every day life, but it is in fact financially very relevant to all sections of society. Hence, a student learning poultry is taught to observe and measure the feed consumed and the weight gained by the chick. This is plotted in a graphical form, so that it is obvious to him when the fully grown bird only consumes feed without weight gain – time to sell! Rural Technology Course Since 1985, SSC Board in Maharashtra have accorded recognition to the IBT (Introduction to Basic Technology) as an optional subject in SSC Examination. It is conducted in the 8th, 9th, & 10th Std. NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) conduct diploma certification for students who have cleared 8th Std since 1999. This is conducted as a full time one year residential course at Vigyan Ashram and a few other centres. Basic Rural Technology course covers Home & Health; Agriculture - including animal husbandry & poultry; Mechanics, Materials, Energy & Environment. IBT Programme being introduced in about 100 schools in 2008. The relevance and significance of this curriculum can be gauged from the fact that the entire campus (see photograph) is constructed by the inmates of Vigyan Ashram. This has provided a low cost model for building assets in the process of acquiring skills the local community needs. Low cost housing, water-prospecting, agricultural practices, animal husbandry, laboratory services, workshop facility for repairs or fabrication, food processing, energy conservation & generation, or computer skills are some of the many technologies tried and tested. It is not uncommon to find a student working on a building site, or on a farm, also taking care of cattle, doing blood tests, and working at the computer late in the evening. He would have to prepare a presentation for a seminar he is expected to hold to impart his knowledge gained to others. You will also find him participating in a discussion on ethics after a meditation session, or learning spoken English vocabulary. He also prepares a bill of material for the project work he is doing, estimates the cost, and calculates his profit after accounting for other expenses. He is thus exposed to a real life entrepreneurial experience. No wonder many go back to their villages to provide services in their communities earn their livelihood and become better citizens without migrating to urban areas and loading the public services. Some of the technologies developed (pictures below) are Earth Resistivity Meter (ERM) for water prospecting, MechBull (mini-tractor), Pabal Dome for low cost structures which can withstand cyclones & earthquakes, pedal generators, LED lighting, Reality Learning Engine (RLE) software for making interactive lessons.   mechanical bull Earth sensitivity meter Ashok Kalbag askalbag@gmail.com Mobile +91 93 22 22 7067 Vigyan Ashram Pabal, Dist. Pune – 412403 MAHARASHTRA, INDIA. Phone No. : 91+2138+ 292326 e-mail : vashram@vsnl.com vashram@gmail.com www.vigyanashram.com Video Link: http://www.vimeo.com/1664258 Svati BhogleSaturday, Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.mmeeting the needs of the neediest  Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE) is a not for profit organization devoted to sustainable development through technological interventions. We envisage development as a process that meets the needs of the neediest, is in harmony with the environment, permits grass root participation, uses local resources and builds local capacity. Vision To be consistently successful in addressing developmental concerns of the needy communities through technological interventions Mission To identify suitable technological interventions, effect improvements needed for field deployment and undertake various measures to promote the spread of these technologies. TIDE has completed more than 125 projects and has about 10 on going projects at any given point of time. TIDE has been funded by Government at the district, state and central government levels and by international and bilateral funding agencies. TIDE is an organization with a strong focus on technology. The focus areas of TIDE are Renewable energy technologies Informal process industries Water and environmental management Women and livelihoods Building local entrepreneurship Some numbers to understand TIDE - Over 50 innovative ideas explored - 12 entrepreneurs developed - 10,000 energy efficient stoves, dryers and kilns installed - 20 women’s groups engaged in environment friendly livelihood activities - TIDE projects have saved over 100,000 metric tons of firewood - Designed and implemented 25 rain water harvesting systems. AWARDS  Ashden awards, the worlds leading green energy prize awarded the top accolade of ' Energy Champion' to TIDE. Smt. Lalithabai our entrepreneur was awarded the Woman Exemplar Award by CII in 2007 % Finalist at the Social entrepreneur of the year 2006 during World Economic Forum's India Summit Selected for investment by the CITIZEN BASE INITIATIVE OF ASHOKA: INNOVATORS FOR THE PUBLIC Future directions To identify innovation and need for innovation and develop them into forever sustainable products To identify mentor and nurture entrepreneurs / other agencies who would earn their livelihood by technology dissemination and who do the technology proud To find ways and means to deepen and broaden the user base of our technologies To institutionalize processes so that they get embedded into the organizational memory Contact: Svati Bhogle Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE) No: 19, 9th cross, 6th main, Malleswaram, Bangalore -560 003. Phone: 91-80-23315656, 91-80-23462032 Fax : 91-80-23344555 E-Mail: tide@vsnl.com or info@tide-india.org Svati Bhogle holds a masters degree in chemical engineering from IIT Bombay. She has been working in the area of technology for development for over two decades. She has been associated with TIDE for about 10 years now as its Secretary and Chief Executive. She is also the Editor in chief of e-net an energy networking magazine in south Asia. She was nominated for the Social entrepreneur of the Year Award 2006 jointly with the Founder Chairman Dr. S Rajagopalan. She is the recipient of the Ashden Energy Champion award for 2008. Prof P.V.IndiresanSaturday, Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.mCan we slow down rural migration?
Where assets are normally distributed, the top twenty and the bottom eighty share them half and half. In actual practice, our villagers, who constitute nearly eighty per cent of the population, do not enjoy even ten per cent of the assets. For instance, a rural cluster with 100,000 populations should have, by the 80-20 rule, around 50 doctors. Often they have not even one. Rural areas are denuded of financial and human capital because their markets are too small to support many services. PURA remedies this defect by creating a common market for a cluster of villages with a combinmed population of 30-50 thousand. Unlike Growth Poles, which too create a common market but at one single location, PURA distributes them around a group of villages. That way prosperity spreads all round. Essentially, PURA injects into the rural community job-oriented vocational training, nursing homes, modern schools and civic services like water, sanitation, biogas. These are all linked together by an efficient bus service. It is the hypothesis that the injection of these amenities, particularly the bus service which creates a town-sized market, will attract commercial enterprises. In turn, employees in those enterprises will sustain the social services like education, healthcare and civil services. Till the time, commercial businesses pick up, the social services will suffer losses. PURA expects a Sponsor to come forward and provide Viability Gap Funding to meet those losses during the period of gestation. It is hoped that social service providers will come forward to establish quality social services once they are insured against the risk of infant mortality. Normally, social services follow economic expansion. Rural areas never get ahead because economic expansion by-passes them. PURA solves this dilemma by funding social services and using them as a bait to attract economic growth. This sequence of economic development will normally be more efficient than the present practice of mindless expansion of cities. Contact: Prof. P.V.Indiresan B-57, Hill View Apartments, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi 110057. indiresan@gmail.com, 93502-22617 (m) Thiru Ashok Vardhan ShettySaturday, Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.mthe largest NGO-the Government
http://tnrd.gov.in/index.html The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department is responsible for the implementation of various Centrally-sponsored, State-funded, and Externally-aided schemes for poverty alleviation, employment generation, sanitation, capacity building, women’s social and economic empowerment, Tsunami rehabilitation, apart from provision of basic amenities and services. The Department is also entrusted with the responsibility of enabling the various Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) to function as effective units of Local Self-Government. There are 12,620 Village Panchayats, 385 Panchayat Unions (co-terminus with Blocks) and 29 District Panchayats under the purview of the Department.Thiru M.K. Stalin is the Hon’ble Minister for Rural Development and Local Administration since 13.5.2006 and heads two Departments: the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department and the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department. Thiru K Ashok Vardhan Shetty, IAS is the Principal Secretary to Government, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department since 18.5.2006. The Directorate of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (including the Training wing), the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women Limited and the Tsunami Project Implementation Unit come under this Department. These units are all headed by IAS officers. This Department also provides administrative support to the State Election Commission. Ashok Vardhan Shetty is an IAS officer of 1983 cadre and currently, is the Principal Secretary to Government, Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Government of Tamil Nadu. Mr Shetty held several key posts and has wide experience in the Government of Tamil Nadu. He was the Sub Collector, Hosur, Dharmapuri District from 1985-87. From 1987-89 he was the Additional Collector (Development) and Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency in Thanjavur District. From 1989-91 he was the Registrar of University of Madras from [Was the first IAS officer and the youngest ever - at the age of 31 - to hold the post of Registrar of the University of Madras]. He also held the post of Deputy Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, Madras (North) from 1991-93. He was the District Collector, Villupuram District 1993-94 [Was the first Collector of Villupuram district]. He graduated (Mechanical Engineering) from University of Madras in 1979. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Madras. He also did his M.B.A in Public Service from the University of Birmingham, UK. State Schemes http://tnrd.gov.in/schemes_states.html Contact: Ashok vardhan Shetty Rural Development And Panchayat Raj Department Ravi ChopraSaturday, Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.mWater and Food security People’s Science Institute (PSI)
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Ensuring Food Security: A typical farmer in the mountain states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh produces grains that meet only 6 to 9 months of her family’s needs. The rest is bought. In 2006 PSI experimented with the System of Rice Intensification which almost doubled paddy productivity. In 2008 it helped over 12,000 farmers adopt this technique.
· Watershed Development: In Himachal Pradesh domestic water is supplied by the Irrigation & Public Health (IPH) Department. But Jal Samitis in several villages of Choe-Chakrala watershed in Hamirpur district have managed their daily water supplies for 5 years now, eliminating the IPH. Self-governance characterizes watershed development projects implemented by PSI and its partners across 20,000 ha in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.  “India is a nation in the making,” said the leaders of India’s freedom struggle. They identified eradication of poverty as a key element of national reconstruction. In 1988 a group of IITians and their friends established People’s Science Institute (PSI), an organization of professionals, “To help eradicate poverty through the empowerment of the poor and the productive, sustainable and equitable use of available human and natural resources.” Picture: Women farmers in Himachal Pradesh learning to use a weeder in an SRI paddy field “A strong science and technology base, a systems approach for scaling-up community-centered projects from the village to the state-level and technological, social and administrative innovations that impact government programs, characterize PSI’s work,” explains Dr. Ravi Chopra (IIT-B, ’68) its founder Director. In 20 eventful years the Institute has become well-known for its pioneering work in the fields of natural resource management, environmental quality monitoring and disaster management. It is also recognized for its professional, knowledge-based approach from problem analysis to formulation of policy guidelines. “Using creative ways to communicate concepts has helped demystify science and technology and put it in the hands of the poor,” adds Dunu Roy (IIT-B, ’67) one of PSI’s founders. PSI’s most lauded projects (See www.peoplesscienceinstitute.org) include: · Sukha Mukti Abhiyan, involving the construction of 144 earthen dams to drought-proof Palamau district. · Popularizing the construction of low-cost earthquake-safe houses. · Promotion and implementation of participatory watershed development projects. · Jal Sanskriti programme that created a new understanding of the role of sanskriti (culture) in sustaining traditional water harvesting structures and systems. · Gram Swaraj Abhiyan that made micro-planning a tool for empowering Orissa’s poorest people. · Extending systems of crop intensification across hundreds of villages. · Creating a web-enabled Village Information System. · River Conservation programme to regenerate dying Himalayan rivers. “With its enormous experience of working on scale, PSI has emerged as an IIT-class institution in the service of India’s poor,” says Dr. Chopra. Between 2006 and 2015, PSI plans to empower a million poor Indians. “For every rupee spent on salaries and administration, about five rupees are spent on planned activities,” says Board member Dr. K.S. Chawla (IIT-D, ’69). Institutionally, PSI hopes to build its own campus by 2010. It welcomes the active support of IITians in all its endeavours. Contact details: Ravi Chopra |
Ram Krishnan ram.krishnan@yahoo.com
