Pictures from the PanIIT2008 picture collection - taken from the website.
Session 1 pictures Session chair - Ms.R.V. Bhavani  Aruna Roy, Dr Reddy, R.Madhavan   Audience - front row Session 2 sessionn chair - Swati Bhogle  Vikas Meghwani, Collector Santhosh Misra (IIT alumni)   Session 3 session chair Ram krishnan  Ram krishnan, Ravi Chopra, Ashok kalbag, Vijay Mahajan.   The following pictures and text from Shoba Warrier of Rediff.com
 Friday's session on Rural Transformation was "Inspire- Learn from success stories from the field". Indeed, the inspired near full house applauded every success story.
The session was chaired by R V Bhavani, an IIT-B alumnus now working at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai. The speakers included Aruna Roy (in the picture), social activist and Magsaysay Award winner; Ashok Khosla, chairman, Development Alternatives Group, Delhi; and Harish Hande, founder, Selco Solar Light Pvt Ltd (an IIT alumnus). Image: Magsaysay Award winnder ARuna Roy at the Pan-IIT 2008 event in Chennai.  December 19, 2008 An IIT-M alumnus, R Madhavan is a farmer today. He spoke of his successful Padapai Farms and why he chose to be a farmer and not an engineer. The man who won the heart of all listeners was Popatrao Pawar, a village sarpanch from Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra. In eight years, Popatrao transformed his village of 180 families with his many projects which include the successful 'pani panchayat'. Today, the World Bank has included a visit to this village as a must for its staff. Image: IIT-ian R Madhavan speaks at Pan-IIT 2008. Madhavan chose to be a farmer despite his engineering degree.  December 19, 2008
Image: Pongal in December  December 19, 2008
   An engineer from IIT, now a farmer
December 23, 2008 Text by Shoba Warrier
Off-beat is in. The oft beaten track, not so. One of the most interesting themes at this year's Pan-IIT event was the session on rural transformation. IITians who have chosen an offbeat career hogged the limelight at the event. In this series, we feature some of the IITians who preferred to be different, rather than get into a corporate rat race.
The star at the event was R Madhavan, an alumnus of IIT-Madras. This is Madhavan's success story as a farmer. . .
Passion for agriculture
I had a passion for agriculture even when I was young. I don't know how my love for agriculture started. I only know that I have always been a nature lover. I used to have a garden even when I was a teenager. So, from a home garden, a kitchen garden, I gradually became a farmer! My mother used to be very happy with the vegetables I grew.
 An engineer from IIT, now a farmer
December 23, 2008
My first farm land After 4 years, I saved enough money to buy six acres of land. I bought land at Chengelpet near Chennai.
I chose that land because the plot had access to road and water. Back in 1989, a man in a pair of trousers aroused curiosity among the farming community. That was not the image of a farmer!
Tough beginning as a farmer
I became a full fledged farmer in 1993. It was tough in the beginning. Nobody taught me how to farm. There was no guidance from the gram sevaks or the University of Agriculture.
I ran from pillar to post but couldn't find a single scientist who could help me. I burnt my fingers. My first crop was paddy and I produced 2 tonnes from the six acres of land, it was pathetic.
When I lost all my money, my father said I was stupid. I told him, it didn't matter as I was learning. It was trial and error for me for three years. Until 1997, I was only experimenting by mingling various systems.
 Dr Lakshmanan, my guru I met Dr Lakshmanan, a California-based NRI, who has been farming for the last 35 years on 50-60,000 acres of land. He taught me farming over the last one decade. Whatever little I have learnt, it is thanks to him.
I knew a farm would give me much better returns in terms of money as well as happiness. Working for money and working for happiness are different. I work and get happiness. What more do you need?
No guidance in India
I said at one platform that we have to change the curriculum of the agricultural universities. What they teach the students is not how to farm, but how to draw loans from a bank!
What they learn cannot be transformed to reality or to the villages. The problem in the villages is not mentioned in the university. There is a wide gap and it is getting worse.
 These IIT-ians want to work in villages
December 24, 2008 Text: Shobha Warrier
They are youngsters who dare to dream a different dream -- they are on a mission to improve the state of rural India. They were at the Pan-IIT 2008 conference held at IIT-Madras in Chennai to get assistance for their cause. This is their story. . .  This IIT-ian has dedicated his life to rural folk December 24, 2008 Text: Shobha Warrier Some people take the more difficult, the more strenuous, the less-travelled path. . . and yet come out winners. And there is nothing that is better than the sweet of taste of success thus achieved.
In this series on IIT-ians, who have chosen the tougher, non-conventional path, we talk to Dr Ravi Chopra. Dr Chopra, along with a group of IIT-educated professionals, founded the People's Science Institute in 1988. Though PSI's activities are spread all over India, the focus is on the central-western Himalayan region, the mountain states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and the poverty-ridden districts of western Orissa. PSI's headquarters is in Dehra Dun in Uttarakhand. Dr Chopra is an alumnus of IIT Bombay. Although he went to the United States for his doctoral research work, he chose to come back to India after he earned his PhD to work for the rural Indian folk. He spoke about his work and life's passion at the Pan-IIT 2008 conference held in Chennai from December 19 to December 21. Image: People's Science Institute founder Dr Ravi Chopra. | Photograph: Sreeram Selvaraj
Pan IIT 2008 - Water projects During the summer of 2008, few months before the PanIIT 2008 conference, about 50 IIT alumni participated in 10 village water-shed projects. These sites were located in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
You can find more information on each village site, IIT alumni information, some basic FAQ on Rainwater Harvesting at: http://sites.google.com/site/paniitwater/
This video produced by DHAN Foundation of madurai
The following pictures and text from Jeya Baskaran - IIT Madras Student
 Aruna Roy - author of RTI
 Prof Ravindran - RuTag
 Prof. M.S.Swaminathan
YouTube Videos - from the Speakers in this track Vigyan Ashram - Pabal - Maharashtra - by Ashok Kalbag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hXFwl5Iw0E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsPFkMu5PJE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guormEhkahc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xhFaG3jCHg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_PuOxvfntc&e http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDVBzXMM8Fc DHAN – Oorani - a village drinking water pond http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3g7ySuIpH4 Byrraju Foundation - Clean drinking water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyOx7bgkpmk Weather forecast for Fishermen by Swaminathan Foundation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhI7aIoYKVc Greenest building – Development Alternatives – Ashok Khosla http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipO7DjYj8RA Improving the lives of the fishermen in Kerala – Svati Bhogle TIDE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEtM8vLDlNA A village Community Center – Ram krishnan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0nGHmD8yw0 Session reports
Session 2
Prepared by Purnima Gupta and Vinay Deshmukh
Panelists at the second session of the rural transformation track presented a bottoms up perspective of rural transformation in India. Some of the speakers were accompanied by the most important stakeholders of the transformation - the beneficiaries themselves.
The session started with a presentation about the Sittilingi tribal health initiative.Prior to the project the healthcare situation in the tribal areas of Sittilingi, TN near Selum was grim. Babies were delivered on dirt or on bullock carts on way to their visit to the only hospital which was a hundred kilometers away. Enter Dr.Regi George and Dr.Lalithna , the two IIT-M faculty who decided to bring about a radical transformation.They established a tribal hospital in 1993 with the idea of making tribal girls the health workers, thus empowering them. Other socio-economic activities included the organic farming initiative, the educational initiative under the leadership of Anuradha and Krishna and the craft initiative. Pan IIT provided the necessary help on the technology front which included affordable solar panels and storage batteries. The second presentation was made by Vasimalai, executive director of Dhan foundation, Madurai and a passionate change agent. -Operating in 120 locations all over the country, some of the highlights of the efforts of Dhan foundation are: -Attract bright minds to work for rural areas -Micro-finance -Eradicate the digital divide -Potters making a product and selling it at profit -Establish partnerships with key stakeholders for water conservation, e.g.a pond was renovated in Thiruvallur district greatly enriching the lives of the villagers. Prof.A.W.Date of IIT,Mumbai was the third to speak about CTARA - Center for technology alternatives for rural areas. His pioneer work was done in Konkan - the coastal area of Maharashtra through some very successful agricultural and watershed projects.Perhaps the most significant aspects of Prof. Date's speech were his relentless focus on fundamentals, his valuable insights about what could go wrong during project implementation and his use of advanced modeling techniques such as system dynamics (using a tool called WINSIM). He was forthright in admitting that a check dam he built in Gudhanwadi, Karjat yielded good results but not to his satisfaction due to inherent problems related to topology. Prof.Date also introduced a new course called M.tech in technology and development, the first batch of which was admitted in 2007. Some of the highlights of the course are system modeling, data acquisition, statistical analysis and the development of products and systems to help bring about rural transformation. Prof.Date presented several innovative products and systems built by his team in collaboration with the other departments at IIT,Mumbai. Prof.Trilochan Sastry , the fourth in the galaxy of speakers drew tremendous applause from the audience for his work on political and economic reforms - most notably his crusade against the criminals in Indian politics. His organization adrindia.com has forced the topmost leaders of several Indian political parties to deny tickets to criminals , to issue public statements acknowledging the presence of criminals or to deny them ministerial positions. His project Election Watch revealed that 125/543 current members of parliaments have a criminal record with ratio still rising. He apprised the audience of the upcoming conference on electoral reforms on the 31st Jan and the 1st Feb. Santosh Mishra, district magistrate and an IAS officer posted in the state of TN and an IIT alum spoke about his work in the tribal areas of the treacherous mountains of Neelgiri. He spoke about several groups - the Kurumbas of VComlai and the Irulas of Kanchi and the Kattunaickans of Tharapakolli.Some of the highlights of his work were: 1.Electrification of houses 2.Livelihood programs 3.Community certificate made available easily 4.Medical care such as portable ECG machines The eloquent photographs he presented narrated the entire story of the trials and tribulations of these primitive tribal groups. Nevertheless the interventions of the modern man in the lives of these primitive groups presents an ethical and philosophical dilemma as noted by someone in the audience. To do or not to do is often the question given that the modern man does not yet know if her ways of the world are worth emulating. Vikas, the last among the speakers talked about IVIL - IIT for villages , an organization founded by Dr. John of IIT-M. He presented the work done in the Nanathan village near Chennai on creating employment, health initiatives and vocational training. Our final impression was that while each organization is doing a very good job , PANIIT should play a pivotal role in: 1. Formulating a coherent strategy around "what" needs to be done to bring about transformation and then prioritize the "whats". 2.This should then be followed by the "how" part - how should we do what needs to be done ? by Vinay Deshmukh and Purnima Gupta
Writers' Forum - PANIIT Alumni Assn.
Knowledge Capture - What next ?
 The 'pre-meet' on Dec 18th
 The Pre-Meet on Dec 18th at the IC&SR building
Please scroll below for a minutes of this meeting
 The Pongal-in-December event - on Dec 19th by - ECOMWEL
 Natham tour picture gallery sent by Vikas Meghwani - Tour Guide and Village volunteer
Breakfast in Natham
In spite of the low turn out on the tour, it happened to be quite interesting. Everybody was satisfied with the trip.We started off with breakfast in a village house then went and discussed the Natham project in the Integrated Knowledge Center building.The discussion went on well. After having tender coconut, we had a village tour and interacted with the villagers. Then after lunch had a sort of a nature tour in the fields.
Ulundhai tour picture gallery sent by V.Krishnan - a Track volunteer
    VKC - Pulliarkuppam village in Pondicherry - Rural tours - MSSRF http://picasaweb.google.com/chitra.shankaran/Rural#slideshow sent by Vivek Sundaram   Dec 18th - Pre-meet - minutes
Notes on the meeting of the Rural Transformation invitees (thanks to Muralidharan)
Ram started of by highlighting the need for Rural Transformation. India is shining but Bharat is drowning is the word he used. He mentioned about specific success stories such as Popat, Ilango, Swati and Bhavani and asked the team as to how it could be replicated.
Bhavani & Swati who were moderating suggested that all present should introduce and mention about what they are doing in brief.
Bhavani is with the MSSRF since 8 years focusing ob food security, women farmers particularly in the Vidharbha region
Ashok Kalbat: IIT D of Vigyan Ashram said people want to give back PAN IIT is no exception. Suggested replication based on success stories, development thru hands on education with scope for earning while working. Vigyan Ashram was built by students, who were school dropouts.
Swati of TIDE Bangalore: realized that the end result of research in India is publication and not implementation. Created a link organization between research and end users/grass root/rural enterprises/energy linked livelihood.
Hari Natarajan GVEP: IIT 2202 Focusing on scaling up of energy solutions
Madhavan: Increase of productivity of Palm/coconut etc to increase revenue per farmer.
Ravi Chopra: People Science Institute IIT B 1968, started front for rapid development of India. Since 1988 in Dehradun. Focusing on improvement of productivity in Forests/pastures, disaster mitigation, innovations to improve the livelihood, 25% income generated by sale of products and services
Anil Date: Prof IIT Bombay Mech. Eng.: Spokesman for improvement
R. Muralidharan: IIT M 1968, returned to India last year, has supported the cause of the blind since 1973. Now involved in comprehensive vision screening as a step to reduce curable blindness in India both urban and rural
Hema Gopal, TCS. Involved in Corporate Social responsibility focusing on Education/health and environment, Their contribution are in web health medicine, forecasting of weather and adult literacy programmes Dinakar: IITM 79 Univ of Colorado, Biotech Specialist, involved in enzyme formation for the agricultural needs.
Sunil Kulkarni IIT Bombay, Agrocom software Web portal creation, weather alerts on mobile, Collaborations in Pantnagar and Dharwad
Shekar Raghavan, Rain Centre rain Water harvesting since 2002, urban areas creating awareness also on sanitation, ecological composting toilets. 21 toilets have been created
Sudhir Chellarajan, IIT B, faculty in IITM in Humanities, 5 year integrated master’s course. Teaching areas of development studies, energy policy/climate policy
David Varunkumar IIT K 1977, returned in 2003, working in the Palani, Kodai hills, In areas of sanitation, Education, women related /livelihood related activities. So far covered 2500 women. Shoe string operation.
Ashok Saraf, IIT B 1973: Rural Development consultant, Science and Tech parks in Univ of Pune. Imparting employable skills training.
Vasant Gangavane IITB 1963? (First batch) Rural development in Konkani area soil and water conservation in two districts of Konkani.
Prof P V Indiresan: PURA, Villages should become as prosperous as a western village. Needs to work with a cluster of villages, create common market, set up new industry in the village area which will encompass the villages. Provide agricultural and non agricultural expertise.
Dr. G. N. Srinivas Reddy of BAIF Working with 14 state level organizations with 5000+ professionals, in a franchisee model, mostly Govt funded. Core competency is livestock and water management.
Narayanan: non IIT, honorary advisor Min of Panchayati Raj, rural business, work in Yawatmaol, politician.
Ashok JhunJhunwala, IITK 1975 IITM faculty, Technologies for rural India, e.g. weather monitoring station for Rs 20,000/-
Krishnan IIT B 1974 former MD ITCOT, now advisor.
Thyagarajan Vet. Government service in villages. Now MSSSRF Foundation Focusing on agro economy, dairy economy. Cattle wealth is the most important. Bio village concept.
Sudha Nair. Also MSSRF Foundation.
Popatrao Powar village sarpanch of Hiwre Bazaar. Improved the village by getting the support of the entire village personnel and taking hard decision such as tube well banned, sugar cane and banana banned. Village land not sold to outsiders etc. Need based planning and all achieved by providing honest leadership. Created 52 millionaires
Achyut Gokhale exec Dir MSSRF
Jaya Indiresan IITD 1974 training programme for women in Agriculture, British Council, DANIDA, Evaluation and Presentation
Paul Basil Transforming rural India with innovation, stores in villages
Vikas Meghwani Final year IITM Natham village transformation
Rajiv Consultant Financial Inclusion of the rural poor
Ravindran IITM 1966, Founder Director of National Institute of Ocean Technology, Established Hospitals, trained local girls in nursing, Tribal Health initiative, organic farming, Re educating children such as hands on training on maintenance of agricultural equipments. Teachers do not come because they do not have housing in the village
Jeya Bhaskar 2nd year M.Tech student IITM, Pongal stall.
Jay Pagnis Mech student
Ilango Panchayat President Kuthambakkam village
Bhavani started the discussions with asking “How do we approach rural transformation?” NGO’s can do well in pilot cases. S Reddy, BAIF 1961-70 Maharashtra, Then started off state organizations and hived them off. Has worked closely with central and state Govt to influence policy. When Govt can not do then they do not want to do. Influence policy with examples of actual pilots so that it is accepted and adapted by the Govt.
Narayanan: should focus on Villages, rural business Hub with Panchayati Raj. Begin conversation with political leaders, they will be receptive. Ilango: In Tamilnadu at least 250 Panchayat are honest and will be receptive to inputs, they should be given powers to be CEO’s of the village
Ravindran: Villages around highway and railway are reachable and are developing. Those which are away do not have development.
Vikas: sustainable development is required Narayanan: Get 100 IIT ans to actually go to the villages Get a corpus created with their networks. Hema Gopal; Identify the needs then try to fulfill it Train the trainer concept to give education Self sufficiency in economic terms Thyagarajan; IT related focus and discussions are a possibility. Charges are welcome series; villages are coming forward to pay. Ashok JhunJhunwala: Education, Health, employment Chopra: Requires unity in the villages Requires a leader Anil Date; Wish for development, but do not have the wherewithal to say no-therefore development lacks
Define the problem Needs Have you gone to the village? No link between IIT and the villages Find people who have stayed in India and visited villages
Mrs. Jaya Indiresan Find out the needs, do not impose yourself e.g. in one village they needed a bridge in another drinking water in another a factory with employment for off season etc
Ashok J Water/Health care?Jobs?livelihood e.g. BPO, strengthen manufacturing by contract manufacturing, Solve energy requirement needs, Insurance against disease/lack off or excess rainfall/RWH missing/too many bore wells/wrong crop rotation/ Marketing support/
Sudhir Improve livelihood, by analyzing failures. Unfortunately failures are not documented, and then technology can be utilized more effectively
Rajeev private sector has been responsible for IT and Telecom revolution. Use them for developing rural India.
Murali Private Sector will go only where there is purchasing power so seeding will be required to get the people to a minimum standard.
Kulkarni: Weather information module, diversified crops/opportunity for all. Hari Natarajan NGO’s are competing with each other and not open for partnerships, no collaboration amongst Indian NGO’s Local governance has worked with good local leadership David; Social/Economic/Political integrated approach is required Gokhale: Program implementation is required. Liquor/Sugarcane cultivation should be banned Ravindran Focus on villages away from highways and railway lines. IIT students do not have time Jay PAN IIT should have a forum to look at the solution developers
Popat Rao: Leadership Integrated solutions Mech/Elec/Agr/Chem/Civil etc with Marketing and management capabilities Village level local planning. Implement with local funding do not wait for Govt to act Social economic political solution is needed Ilango: Villages are ready to accept help. Are IITans ready to come and settle in villages and work?
Svati: Minutes will be circulated |
