Innovations Inc. : Professor Anil Gupta

With his team, Professor Anil Gupta scouts the length and breadth of the country to bring grassroots innovations to light, discovers Amita Amin-Shinde

A bicycle that runs over water as well as road, a low-cost milking machine that works on the principal of vacuum suction, and a bamboo tooth that's strong enough to bite into chicken. These and many similar innovations haven't been born in sterile research laboratories - they come from the backyards of rural India. Bringing them to the public eye is Anil Gupta. The 53 year-old professor at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), is a devoted supporter of grassroots innovations and the executive vice-chairperson of National Innovation Foundation, a government-funded yet autonomous scientific society that reaches out to innovators and acknowledges their achievements.

Gupta's office at IIM-A, one among rows of cubicles separated by wooden walls, looks as busy as its occupant. Books are strewn everywhere; Gupta picks up a pile to make room for himself. Amid the incessant ringing of the telephone, a fax malfunction and people dropping into his room for brief chats, Gupta animatedly talks about his pet project, which he initiated in 1988. Acting on the belief that the 'I' in India stands for Innovation, Gupta founded the Honey Bee Network, a scouting team of academics, students, scientists and farmers seeking out innovators from remote villages across the country.

Take the case of Mansukhbhai Patel from Nana Ubhada village, in Gujarat's Viramgam district. Patel, who studied up to Class X, invented a cotton-stripping machine in 1991. One of Gupta's scouts, Hirendra Rawal, discovered Patel's work in 1995 and reported it to Honey Bee, which helped develop and refine the cotton-stripper and introduce it commercially. Today, patented by a US-based company, the cotton-stripper fetches Patel Rs 2 crore annually. Patel was among 10 awardees of the 2004 National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) technology award for best innovation. From a village house, he moved to a bungalow outside Ahmedabad. His house is air-conditioned, and he drives his own car. Though the innovation was his, Patel shares the credit for his success with Gupta and his team.

To bolster Honey Bee Network, Gupta established Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) in 1993 and Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN) in 1997. While SRISTI gives finishing touches to innovations, GIAN works towards facilitating ideas into products and sustainable enterprises.

By 1998, Gupta was pushing for a government-funded autonomous scientific society. Fortunately for him, Dr R A Mashelkar, secretary, Department for Scientific and Industrial Research under the Ministry of Science and Technology, shared his passion. In March 2000, the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), with a government endowment (a fund of which only the interest can be used) of Rs 20 crore, was set up by the Department of Science and Technology 'to document, value-add, protect intellectual property rights, and publicise contemporary unaided technological innovations, commercially and non-commercially'.

Mashelkar, who is also the chairperson of NIF, says, "With interest rates going down by the day, the interest on Rs 20 crore is not much any longer. But for every rupee spent, the output is phenomenal." Gupta's team has discovered and documented over 51,000 mechanical, technical and herbal inventions and practices from 454 districts out of 594 in the country. GIAN centres have also been set up in several states and efforts are on to try and get additional fund of Rs 20 crore from the government.

Money has never been an issue for Gupta personally. In 1985, armed with a Masters in Biochemical Genetics (1974) from Haryana Agricultural University and later a PhD in Management from Kurukshetra University, Gupta left for Bangladesh to work as a consultant to help farmers use technology to improve their working conditions and yield. "Here, I realised much of the knowledge I claimed to have or the hefty salary I earned came because of the people but they weren't getting any share of it. That's when I decided to return to start Honey Bee," says Gupta, who won the Padmashri in 2004.

Instead of waiting around for innovators to come to him, Gupta set out to search for them. One layer of the network is the bi-yearly Shodhyatra (a journey of exploration), which began in 1998, involving a trek of up to 200 km to remote Indian villages. As part of the Shodhyatra, scouts conduct street meetings with villagers, show them documentaries, hold biodiversity and recipe competitions and science exhibitions. "We urge villagers to come forward with their innovations," says Gupta, who has covered about 2,700 km on foot in the past five years. His latest Shodhyatra, the 17th, was to Orissa in May 2006, from Pattangi block of Koraput district to Sabara Srikhetra, a distance of 113 km.

While he gives all his spare time to the network, Gupta continues to teach at IIM-A. In fact, he has brought his passion to the institute by introducing Shodhyatra as one of the seven courses he teaches including intellectual property rights, technology management, design and dynamics of development organisations. "I urge students to take the course, give it a few months and then go wherever they want to. Some oblige," says Gupta, who writes one poem every day.

The Shodhyatra in December 2005 was to Kerala's Idduki district, starting from Kumily to Kattappana. In Mannakudy, the scouts came across a disabled-friendly driving system designed by Biju Verghese, physically challenged himself. He had modified his car by converting all the foot-operated functions (like clutch, brake and accelerator) into hand-operated ones for just Rs 5,000. A similar driving system was found at Thookupalam in Idukki by another physically challenged person called Ninny. The only difference: Ninny had spent only Rs 750 on the modifications. "Remodelled cars may not have a good finish, but it's remarkable that it has been done by villagers with minimal knowledge or education," says Gupta.

Even more remarkable is the long list of innovations. While the anti-dandruff oil of Valsamma Thomas in Mannakudy, Kerala, will soon be commercialised by a Chennai-based company, Kerala-based M J Joseph's tree-climbing device made out of metal loops, wire ropes and a rubber belt has caught the eye of Florida-based entrepreneur Kevin Davis, who wants to distribute the product in the US. A garlic peeling machine invented by 46 year-old M Nagarajan from a village near Madurai was sold to a Pakistan-based company last year. And Dodhi Pathak, a 50-plus resident of Assam's Nalbari district, has twisted and turned bamboo to create a water pump, bamboo dentures and a wacky bamboo bicycle, without the tyres and tubes. Other discoveries include a pedal-operated washing machine, windmill-operated power generator and a pomegranate peeling and deseeding machine.

So far, five innovations have got patents of the 60 patents applied for. Gupta's organisations help innovators apply for patents. It's a long process - the inventor has to demonstrate that the innovation does not already exist in the public domain; a patent agent conducts a search to determine the novelty of the proposed patent; its registry is argued by advocates; and finally the patent is approved or rejected. "I am grateful to law firms for taking up our patents cases pro bono," says Gupta. "All we need now are entrepreneurs to manufacture them."

Mohammad Saidullah from Bihar's Motihari district invented the amphibious bicycle, which could have come to the rescue of Mumbaikars during the July 2005 floods. Saidullah's cycle, which runs on land and water and was featured on Discovery Channel's Beyond Tomorrow programme earlier this year, cost him Rs 3,000 to build. "If his technique had been developed, at least kids marooned in Mumbai schools could have been rescued," argues Gupta.

Indian cities could also benefit from Kanak Das' cycle. Devised by Das in Morigaon, 70 km from Guwahati, it runs faster on bumpy roads by converting the energy in the shock absorber into propulsion. Every time the spring of the shock absorber compresses, it releases energy to the rear wheel and the cycle runs faster. "Can only rich companies come up with good ideas and not the common man?" asks Gupta with passion. "Why can't this cycle be commercialised?"

Founder of Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), Ela Bhatt agrees with Gupta - and shares his angst. She refers to the example of Amrutbhai Agrawat from Junagadh in Gujarat, who developed a pulley with a stopper so that women drawing water from wells could take a breather midway. "This invention has the potential to make the lives of women in villages a shade easier," she says. "But even though the design is ready, Gupta hasn't found a manufacturer." That hasn't discouraged innovators like Gopal Suresh Patil, 20, from Dondaicha village in Dhule district of Maharashtra. Patil invented a walking stick made out of PVC pipe with a light. His motivation: his grandfather found it difficult to carry a walking stick, a torch and his tiffin for night vigils in the fields.

According to Gupta, the only thing rural innovators need is a gentle nudge. He likens them to acrobats, saying, "Putting a net below them would cushion their fall. And we should provide that net." He also sees a potential role for silvers across the country to guide innovators by imparting information in their field of expertise. "The network can be the mediator," he explains. "We will forward queries by innovators to seniors, and forward their replies back." Another innovative idea.

If you would like to contribute, contact: Prof Anil Gupta at Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad: 380015, Gujarat; Tel: 079-26324927; email: anilg@iimahd.ernet.in. Websites: www.sristi.org ; www.gian.org ; www.indiainnovates.com; www.nifiindia.org

Featured in Harmony Magazine
August 2006