My
Dear Student Friends,
Greetings!
This is Dr. Ravi Saripalle, Founder, Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling
Movement. Welcome to “Letter
to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 12”. Hope you enjoyed reading my
previous letter. These letters are e-travelling across the country, for one
good cause, spreading inspiring stories of amazing people. Our mission is to inspire
Indian Youth by spreading positive stories of people who made difference in
life and quality in various domains. Today these letters are reaching all 686
districts of our country. These letters are helping to build positive dreams and act as
catalyst to youth aspirations. Now lot of districts are considering this letter
series to integrate into the academic
curriculum. I am confident, it yields. It creates amazing impact on individual
dreams.
Why you should
read this letter? Your time is most precious.
- When an individual hears a Positive Story, it sets vision and provides strength to execute goals
- When an individual hears a Positive Story, it invokes his/her natural multiple intelligence
- When an individual hears a Positive Story, it acts like Edutainment (Education + Entertainment)
- When an individual hears a Positive Story, he/she learns skill on their own rather external push
- When an individual hears a Positive Story, he/she tries to create his/her own positive story
- When a teacher starts class with a Positive Story, student learning productivity multiplies
In
the previous issue, we discussed about Nicholas James, motivational
speaker, born with phocomelia syndrome (absence of legs and arms), Jessica
Cox, first armless pilot, Sushma Verma, studied MSc-Microbiology
and completed BSc. at the age 13, and her brother Shailendra
completed BCA at the age of 14, Geetu Maa, a woman adopted
28 orphaned children suffering with cancer, Dr. Garimella, who
was born blind but became great journalist, Muhammad Ali, an
American Olympic and professional boxer. They are sharing humongous inspiration
with us. They are rising hopes and aspirations! They are living for a cause and
drawing positive consequences.
In
this issue, I would share few great examples of grassroots innovators and social
change makers. Prof. Anil K Gupta, globally renowned scholar in
the area of grassroots innovations, founder of Honey
Bee Network,
executive chair of National Innovation Foundation (NIF), and Professor at IIM
Ahmadabad, working towards scouting grassroots innovations and promoting
grassroots innovators. Honey
Bee Network culled
out thousands of wonderful innovations, ideas and knowledge possessed by economically
poor people. NIF published wonderful work done by Vijaybhai Solanki and
Dipakbhai Vyas, from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. These innovators developed Cotton
wick making machine (Cotton wicks are kept in diyas) which has completely
automated the process of round cotton wicks (http://nif.org.in/dwn_files/award-books-biennial/NIF_8th_Award_book_2015.pdf).
Vijaybhai (45), a school
dropout and Dipakbhai with Basic education, borrowed money for high interest
rates, with lot of struggles, made their
initial beginning but failed in their attempt. However, with the support of GIAN
West/NIF, they could able to complete the product successfully. This machine
makes 20 - 25 high quality wicks per minute whereas we can make 8-10 wicks per
minute manually. Till date, they sold more than 100 machines and counting. We
wish them success in their innovation journey. Thank You NIF for publishing an inspiring
innovation.
Recently
I read an article from thenation.com written by Mark Hertsgaard. It was the story of a farmer ( named Yacouba
Sawadogo) from Burkina Faso, a landlocked (no sea
coastal line) country in West Africa. It is surrounded by 6 countries. He cannot read or write,
but developed Tree-based approach for farming which is most effective to beat
climate change. He has 50 acres of land, which he got it from forefathers.
Whole family abandoned this land as it was caught with extreme drought during
1972-84, and later consistent drop in rainfall (~20%) year on year. But Sawadogo
became innovator and adopted to these extreme conditions. He made zai shallow pits which collects the scarce rainfall onto the
roots of crops. He added manure during dry season in the pit. This is best
innovation which he discovered! By concentrating water and fertility in pits, Sawadogo
increased crop yields! Small trees began to sprout while millet and
sorghum (used for food, animal fodder, biofuels etc) are grown besides! As trees grow bigger, crop yields are
going high while restoring soil fertility. Now this technique is adopted by
hundreds of farmers where rise in the temperature and climate change are becoming
critical issues. Millions of acres which were semi-desert in 1980s are now
became fertile! This technique is also called as "agro-forestry"
or "farmer managed natural regeneration". Mixing trees and crops give
multiple benefits- shade to crops, act as wind shields, and help in retaining
soil moisture. Tree leaves falls on the ground act like mulch, improves soil
fertility and acts as fodder for livestock. Infact during emergency situation,
people can eat these leaves and avoid starvation. These pits help in recharging
underground water tables (e.g. in this region water raised by 5 meters in spite
of population increase). Tree wood is a bi-product which can be sold for furniture, domestic cooking etc. Author
shared an important information in this context - 80 percent of planted
trees may die within a one or two years. However, contrary to this phenomenon,
trees sprout naturally, are more resilient to this situation. Thank you thenation.com
for publishing wonderful agro-forestry technique which is the need of
hour!
Now
Let me talk about another amazing personality! Dr. Prakash Baba Amte,
son of Magsaysay awardee Baba Amte (famous social worker, one who dedicated his life for the
empowerment of people who are suffering from leprosy), who is medical doctor
and amazing social worker. Dr. Prakash
Amte and his wife, Dr. Mandakini Amte (both doctors by profession) working
towards cause of empowerment of Madia Gonds in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and nearby states of Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. He started Lok Biradari Prakalp in the year
1973, a transformational project for the development of Madia Gonds tribal people. He and his wife migrated to this tribal place
and lived in hard conditions (no electricity, communication etc). They
developed emergency hospital, school for tribal people and hospital for injured
animals and orphan animals. They are providing healthcare services to 40,000
people annually and school for 600 students. Both received Magsaysay award under "Community Leadership" category. Let me
share the other family members contributions! Dr Prakash's elder brother, Dr.
Vikas Amte, doctor by profession, running an organization called 'Maharogi
Sewa Samiti', and managing "Anandwan", started by his father Baba Amte in 1948 for leprosy patients. Dr Prakash's elder son' Dr. Digant Amte,
completed his school education from Lok Biradari's school. He did MBBS degree
and serving tribals along with his parents! Dr. Anagha Amte, Dr.
Digant Amte's wife (gynecologist) dedicated her life for the tribal women. Mr.
Aniket Amte, younger son of Dr Prakash Amte, did his diploma in
mechanical engineering, joined his family in tribal village, serving towards
cause of lively hood (Bamboo Handicraft Center, and Lok Biradari Dairy) and
education (Lok Biradari Ashram School). Mrs. Samiksha Amte, wife
of Mr. Aniket Amte, teaches in the school using innovative pedagogies. Mr.
Vilas Manohar, brother-in-law, of Dr Prakash, a well-established
entrepreneur from Pune along with his wife (Mrs. Renuka Amte-Manohar,
sister of Dr Prakash Amte), dedicated their lives in that tribal place. Mr.
Vilas Manohar wrote multiple books on man-animal relationship based on this
experience at Hemalkasa, tribal village. They are referred as the Schweitzer
couple of India. The Prince of Monaco (Europe) issued a postal stamp on their
name. They also received Padmashree, highest Indian civilian award
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prakash_Amte,http://www.anandwan.in/, http://lokbiradariprakalp.org/). What an amazing family of social workers! Three
generations, uncompromised commitment, uninterrupted social service, astonishing
Amte family! The source of inspiration.
National
Innovation Foundation (NIF) has scouted another important innovation called Laxmi
Asu machine developed by Mallesham from Telangana. Tie and dye is
most critical stage in making pochampalli silk sarees. A triangular shape is
given to the threads and designs are developed based on this shape. Tie is done
as per design selected and dye is applied as per the color selection. Once they are dried and integrated, they are rolled into spindles and in
turn into looms and from that saree is woven. Earlier this weaving used to take
3-4 hours but due to Laxmi Asu machine it is taking only 90 minutes. Earlier
only 2 sarees are made in a day but now due to Asu machine, this number
increased to 8 sareers per day. Thanks to NIF for scouting such a wonderful
grassroots innovation and thanks to business-standard.com and business.rediff.com
for publishing such a wonderful article. Infact Mallesam started this work at
the age of 12 years. He used to study during night and passed 10th standard!
His mother used to work hard doing this job in spite of her joint aches. His
heart melted due to this situation and decided to do something to aid his
mother. He worked hard in making this machine possible and finally developed
Lakshmi Asu machine. Now this machine is patented! His goal is to transform
30,000 women weavers life in Telangana and AP using this machine. He already sold
600 machines. We sincerely wish Mallesam's goal to be fulfilled and dream
succeeded. You can read more at http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/asu-machine-to-aid-weavers-of-tie-and-dye-sarees-108120201020_1.html and http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/oct/21/slide-show-1-innovation-school-dropout-invention-for-his-mother.htm
.
Now
let me share another healthcare innovation developed by BITS Team. Dr. Suman
Kapur and Team (Mr. Abhay Moondra, Ms. Anuradha Pal, Mr. Suresh Kabra) of BITS
Hyderbad developed breathtaking innovation called RightBiotic® which helps
in rapid urine culture testing (point-of-care device developed for testing
antibiotic sensitivity of pathogens found in human urine, leading to Urinary
Tract Infection (UTI)). A typical urine culture test takes 1 to 3 days. However
this innovation provides sensitivity results in 4 hours. You can read more at http://xcelbits.com/rightbiotic.html . Team is also working on another
two innovations - RightGlucose®, an efficient low cost efficient Glucometer. RightCardio®,
a self monitoring lipid profile test kit. Best wishes to the team working on
affordable healthcare products which are vital to serve bottom of the pyramid
healthcare needs. We wish this team achieves the goal of low cost health care diagnosis
a reality.
My Dear Friends, Hope you found useful reading these
inspirational stories! Inspire through
storytelling, Innovate for Life turning! Friends, I appreciate your valuable time. We will again see you in
my next letter. Thank you for giving me this great opportunity to write to you
and help me to learn, unlearn and relearn in this process. I personally thank
all websites, authors who are publishing / writing such an inspiring stories
for common good and contributing for better world.
With Best Wishes
Dr. Ravi Saripalle
About Author: Dr.
Ravi Saripalle is Founder of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling
Movement. He is also Director, Center for Innovation, GVP College of
Engineering (A), Vizag, AP, India. As part of Inspire to Innovate (i2i) Storytelling
Movement, Dr.Ravi is trying to instill inspiration through spreading positive stories
of amazing people in the form of short stories, embedding them in the form of
letters (epistolary form) and sending them to thousands of schools, colleges,
universities district administrations across India. Also conducting Storytelling
Workshops in select institutions. Providing customized mentoring to specific
inspired students. Dr. Ravi is having 18 years of experience in Industry,
Consultancy, Training, Mentoring and Research. Prior to this current mission,
Dr. Ravi worked with Wipro Technologies for more than a decade. Dr Ravi can be
reached at saripalle.ravi@gmail,com or http://i2itm.blogspot.in/ or facebook.com/saripalle.ravi
Links to previous letters
1.
Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 11 (Inspire To Innovate
(I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2016/06/inspire-to-innovate-storytelling.html
2. Letter to Student Series-
Volume 1 and Issue 10 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @
Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2016/05/inspire-to-innovate-storytelling_30.html
3.
Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 9 (Inspire To Innovate
(I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2016/05/inspire-to-innovate-storytelling.html
4.
Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 8 (Inspire To Innovate
(I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2016/04/inspire-to-innovate-storytelling.html
5. Letter to Student Series-
Volume 1 and Issue 7 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @
Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2016/03/inspire-to-innovate-i2i-storytelling.html
6. Letter to Student Series-
Volume 1 and Issue 6 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @
Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2016_02_01_archive.html
7. Letter to Student Series-
Volume 1 and Issue 5 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @
Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2016_01_01_archive.html
8.
Letter to Student Series- Volume 1 and Issue 4 (Inspire To Innovate
(I2i) Storytelling Movement @ Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015_11_01_archive.html
9. Letter to Student Series-
Volume 1 and Issue 3 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @
Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015_08_01_archive.html
10. Letter to Student Series-
Volume 1 and Issue 2 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @
Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015/07/letter-to-student-series-volume-1-and.html
11. Letter to Student Series-
Volume 1 and Issue 1 (Inspire To Innovate (I2i) Storytelling Movement @
Students Of India) http://i2itm.blogspot.in/2015/05/inspire-to-innovate-i2i-thinking.html
Disclaimer:
The goal of this i2iSM letter series campaign is to inspire students / youth
through storytelling and develop innovative leaders to build strong nation. In
this process, I have taken several data points from various websites, NEWS
articles, books, videos etc. I sincerely thank all the editors for providing
such an insightful stories and information. To the best of my knowledge, I
tried to acknowledge all the sources. I sincerely apologize for any omissions,
grammatical mistakes and hurting any reader’s sentiments. I request all the
readers to understand the spirit behind this effort. This effort doesn’t
involve any commercials. Letter series is for free distribution.
