RIDING THE HIGH TIDE

Svati Bhogle, of TIDE, won the Energy Champion Ashden Award in 2008 for TIDE's work with biomass stoves and this year she has been nominated as TED India fellow.

In this interview she speaks her mind on how technology can be taken forward to develop rural areas, the hurdles she has crossed in taking them to the end users and so on.


Me: Svati, Could you give us an idea about yourself?

Svati Bhogle(SB): I think I am temperamentally an academic. I have ventured into socially sensitive science and now into social businesses as an academic exercise to create and share knowledge of how institutions for social transformation are created and nurtured.

Me: A Masters in Chemical engineering from IIT-Bombay and work experience at Hindustan Lever Research Center for about a year what was the inspiration that shifted your interest to research in technology for development?

SB: This is also an extension of the research experience. I think I had great mentors during my formative professional years who gently nudged me to think differently such as Dr. S S Kalbag at the Hindustan Lever Research Centre, and then Prof Amulya Reddy at the Indian Institute of Science. Their vision of a socially engaged scientist and their commitment to their conviction was highly motivating and inspiring.



Me: Many congratulations on being awarded the Green Oscar (i.e.) the Ashden award for the year 2008 and being nominated as a TED India fellow. Could you give us a brief background about TIDE and on the work for which you received the award?

SB: Thank you. TIDE was conceived as a link organization between technology generating institutions and end users of technology who are usually the neediest people. We developed a social enterprise model where we transferred fuel efficient technology to small town entrepreneurs completely and helped them to set up small businesses in fuel efficient stove dissemination for artisanal industries. We also supported them to build markets and enabling mechanisms for adaptation and acceptance of innovative technology. These small enterprises have sold over 10,000 stoves, dryers and kilns to informal industries like areca boiling, silk reeling, herbal medicine preparation, textile dyeing etc. which has helped save more than 30,000 tons of firewood every year because of which the rural industries have been able to increase their productivity and profitability.

Me: With the city limits fast expanding what do you think would be the best option to meet the dynamically changing water demand?

SB: We need a more equitable distribution of water. We must reduce the water wastage by the rich and also increase access and availability of water to the water starved people. We need to tackle this both on the demand side and the supply side, through policy, technology, information and effective implementation.

Me: Any bottlenecks that you see while taking forward technology to bring about transformation in rural areas. Is there a project which initially showed poor user participation but was a huge hit later?

SB: Yes of course there are bottlenecks all the way and all the time. They choke and slow down the development process, very similar to traffic jams. The development jargon says identify barriers, develop barrier removal strategies and implement them effectively. We normally classify them into information, technology, finance barriers etc. But the bottlenecks are evolving and dynamic and by now we are able to visualize and anticipate bottlenecks and plan for them.

We were struggling with a fuel efficient jaggery making stove so that use of very polluting automobile tyres as fuel could be eliminated and surplus biomass could be created for over a decade. The field trials were successful but encountered bad roads and speed breakers all the way. We are not yet at a huge hit situation but local masons are building 5 stoves every month in the Belgaum region. The worst is over I guess.

Me: When would you deem the goal of a rural technology mission successful?

SB: This again has been a dynamic definition for us. We first believed that a successful prototype demonstration defined success, then went on to say, commercial exploitation of a technology or a product. Our current definition is rapid adoption of technology and the search and research continues.

Me: How best do you think the concept of entrepreneurship can be taken to the rural women?

SB: Women’s entrepreneurship in the rural context is more complex. It requires, changing of conventional gender roles as the first step. This means that women must first free themselves from their routine tasks and create time and space for them to learn and to change. The family also has to accept the process of empowerment. We need to first create a level playing field for them. Family consent and support is extremely vital because women’s entrepreneurship is also about managing domestic and professional complexities. Beyond this the challenges are similar but rural women tend to prefer conventional enterprises like food processing etc. They need to venture into less crowded options.

Me: “Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.” said William Ruckelshaus. As responsible world citizens what should be done by each one of us to make the earth a good place to live?

SB: May be just concentrate on the need and give the greed a good bye.

Me: Any other interests you are passionate about.

SB: Yes of course but one at a time.

A MASTER OF ALL TRADES

This is the first in the series of interviews to know more about the TED India fellows,their views, thoughts and interests. This post would feature the interview I had over mail with Sanjukta Basu.

“There is nothing extra-ordinary about me except that I refuse to be ordinary at every turn of the road.”

Her interests: Anything under the sun.
Her mission: Empower women.

Here is the excerpt of the interview:

Me: Sanjukta, could you give us a brief background about yourself?

Sanjukta Basu(SB):I am a lawyer turned social media enthusiast, women and LGBT rights activist and more. I presently work for a non profit organization Breakthrough.


Me: Many congratulations on being nominated as a TED India Fellow. Below are the words that you wrote on your blog on being nominated:

“As I looked through the list of my fellow TED fellows I felt how insignificant my academic achievements are in comparison to them. I don’t have no foreign degrees or Phds, I didn’t go to Harvard, I am no IITian, IIMite or ISBite, I am no school topper, I never won a medal or a trophy for academics. I graduated out of ordinary school and college with medium grades.”

What do you think has brought you this far?

SB: Well I think it’s my unique individuality that has got me this far, I often say, “There is nothing extra-ordinary about me except that I refuse to be ordinary at every turn of the road.” I try to think out of the box in everything I do, I dare to do things no one else have done, though it may not be something too big.


Me: Goes a saying “Anything that refuses to change ceases to exist”. Is this the reason for “Change” being your much preferred hobby?

SB: Well for me change is the only way forward otherwise I get bored in this journey called life. Life wouldn’t be worth while if we all just did the same things, have same dreams, follow same pursuits etc all our lives. Some of us do that, and I wonder how? My father for example, he did the same job for 40 years, I can’t do that. I need to change myself constantly more than anything else.



Me: A woman, a world citizen, prolific writer, activist, blogger, lawyer, photographer and so on. If I may ask, what is the next facet that you want to add to your bag of talents and why?

SB: To be honest I don’t know what is next. I didn’t add any of the above things in my bag consciously, it’s not like I woke one morning and decided I wanna be a blogger now, or photographer, those things just happened. But there’s one that that’s sure, I would keep doing exciting projects related to women’s empowerment, travel, writing, social media etc. And I would continue to share my life through my writings. Sometimes you learn just by witnessing someone’s life.


Me: You have set your marks on a variety of fields. What drives you to move ahead with all the more energy and passion?

SB: One thing that drives me always is a constant effort to bridge gaps. Every where I look I see people living in their own little worlds oblivious to the pain and sorrow of other’s. There is just too much gap between various classes and communities, the rich-poor, straight-gay. We need to know about other people to understand them. With social media and the power of web publication we can now bring communities together, something that I try to achieve. The other thing that keeps me going is love for travel, meeting new people. If one pays for my travel, stay and food I would jump into any assignment. All I need is my laptop, camera, broadband and I am sorted :)


Me: Can you share with us about the people who have shaped or touched your lives?

SB: My family to begin with - Mom, dad, sister. My sister and I grew up in different times; She’s almost a decade younger than me. Yet I never went too far, instead I waited for her to catch up with me. So it’s like I had a ‘growing up’ twice. I learnt and unlearned a lot of things with her as she grew up. She is also my greatest critic so we fight a lot, fights are learning process too.

And then some of the men I dated, some of them were nice, but some were horrible mistakes, we learn from our mistakes specially me. And may be Aamir Khan too for a bit.

Me: Most of your poems seem to be the reflections of your search for true love. According to you, true love means………

SB: I think true love is a momentous ecstatic feeling which transcends all materialistic pleasures, desires, logic etc. It’s a moment when you want to give your everything to someone, you want to lose yourself and be one with the person you love. It is not necessarily a union of bodies but of minds. It might not have anything to do with worldly arrangements like marriage and procreation. I would say what Meera Bai felt for lord Krishna was true love.


Me: Where do you think you are now, in your efforts to use blogging extensively to reach out to the less privileged? How successful has it proved to be?

SB: I think I have only just started; it’s a long way to go. I want to see myself opening up social media centers in every village in India putting them on world map. I am far from achieving that as of now. But there are other things I am proud of. I inspire people to think differently, I inspire them to think, communicate, question. I am particularly proud of my efforts to bringing many people together as bloggers community. There are small things that matter a lot, for eg I am aware that there are people who found love, friends via these communities, people who rediscovered their own potential. These are achievements albeit insignificant.


Me: Do you see enough provisions in the Indian Penal Code to try the increasing crimes against women and children? What are the changes (if any) that you would like to be amended in the legislature as a lawyer and as a woman?

SB: I think yes. Though there is always space for more laws on marital rape, rape within intimate same sex relationships etc. But the laws we already have is considerably a lot, if not enough, to tackle crimes against women provided, and that’s an all caps ‘PROVIDED’ laws are followed, proper action are taken when they are broken, police and judiciary act honestly. As of now, none of these conditions are achieved. Half of the people don’t care about law they break it and then get away with it because of corrupt systems. System will change only when we introduce gender sensitization in the very patriarchal structure of police and judiciary.


Me: What would be your words of guidance to people wanting to be like you?

SB: He he, that’s quite a question. I am not sure how many people want to be like me; I mean am not a star. But I have a few tips – Always dare to be different, find an excuse for a change. Be honest to your heart always; remember truth is the greatest safety net. And finally, it’s ok to talk about something we do; it’s ok to talk about sex - because it really is something we do. Believe me babies don’t grow on trees neither are they gift wrapped and delivered by Angels.

I am back!!

After a long hiatus from the blogosphere I am back into doing what I like. Speaking my mind is what I have tried to on all my previous posts on a number of social issues. Joining work made the thought of sitting before the computer again at home a task which I did not want to do until next day at office. So what has made me to start blogging again? Well it was an opportunity to interact with and interview some of the best minds in the world through a project started by Kiruba. What is that that links all of them?

1. They dared to be different,
2. They have unlimited zeal and passion,
3. They think out of the box,
4. Their ideas can transform the world, and
5. They all are TED India fellows.

Watch this space to know more about them and their thoughts.

COMMON MAN-THE VICTIM

An upcoming political party celebrated its inception anniversary and a youth rally yesterday here in Chennai. As expected the city was in haywire due to change in traffic routes and diversion of buses around the area. The common man who had ventured to shop for the festival was the victim. Clusters of people were seen in bus stands waiting for buses that never arrived. Auto rickshaws which were scantily seen demanded exorbitant fares (Flight fares are relatively cheap I believe!!). Coming to the point whatever maybe the party their ideologues in regard to making lives of people comfortable seem to vanish in thin air when such meetings are held. Life is thrown out of gear. Authorities who are in charge of regulation and order are the one who are the receiving end for such a poor management. The city boasts of one of the biggest meeting ground for public meetings in its heart center. When thrown open for meetings of political parties galaxies of supporters from places all over the state march to the city from morning till late night in Lorries and chartered buses causing commotion and nuisance to the lives of people. What could be done instead is a huge plot of land could be allotted for holding such meetings outside city limits. This might ease out the additional volume of traffic that would enter the city, bringing it to a standstill. Apart from restoring the normal city activities it would also help the party cadres, organizers, law and order regulators a smooth operation. The city planners should consider this option and bring it into implementation at the earliest.