INNOVATION IS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF NEW INDIA

 

                                              "The best way to be a part of future is to shape it".

The National award winning Bollywood movie Padman (2017), features superstar Akshay Kumar, in which he plays the role of a middle class Indian husband who deeply loves his wife.  One fine day, the protagonist (played by Akshay Kumar) finds out that his wife had been using a dirty unhygienic piece of cloth in her mensural days as she was unable to afford expensive pads. This deeply hurts him, being the caring person he was in the movie. And this leads him to innovate an affordable, home made, mensural pad. This invention solves the rural women's problem of safe and affordable mensural hygiene in the movie. Such hundreds of common yet extraordinary stories of Innovation are shaping the future of new India.

Innovation is defined as a creative solution that solves a problem reduces cost and adds value. In day to day Indian rhetoric some refer to it as 'Jugaad'. 

History of Innovation in India dates back to Indus Valley Civilization (2200 -1700B.C.). Herein people found out the creative drainage system to solve the problem  of sewage disposal due to urbanization. Ancient India is full of similar creative examples of Innovation. Where on one hand we had greats like Aryabhatta, Varamhira, Sushruta, Patanjali who solved the scientific problems of their times. On the other hand we had common farmers using Scarecrows in their fields to put off birds. Even a Kashmiri Kangri is an ideal example of Innovation to solve our harsh winter problem. A common Kashmiri could lit up coal in an earthen pot held by strongly interwoven fibres. Thus Innovation had been shaping the future of India since yore.

Come to present day, Innovation is still shaping the future of India. If one arrives in India, one can witness impact of Innovation in multiple areas. As soon as one sets his foot on Indian roads, one remembers the latest innovation on roadways sector in India. Recently, Thiyagaraja college of Engineering, Madurai has patented the use of waste plastic in road construction. This enhances the durability, strength and resistance of roads. Simultaneously it also solves the problem of toxic plastic disposal in our environment. Hence, Innovation is shaping the future of New India. 

Moving ahead, one takes a cab on these roads. It happens to be Tata Nano.  It is world's most affordable and smallest car - an innovation made in India, made for India. This car has made lower middle class Indians realize their long cherished dream of owning a car. Thus, Innovation is shaping the future of New India.

As one passes by the countryside in the cab, one witnesses the lush green fields. These were possible because of innovations like Neem coated urea. This latest organic fertilizer by ICAR is better absorbed by the plants. It saves money of the farmer and results in profits. Now the farmer can dream of doubling his income by 2025 as envisaged by PM Modi.

Further moving ahead in the cab, one enters the village. It is not a traditional under developed village anymore. Rather, it has urban amneties in it like constant fresh drinking water, Internet connectivity, a centralized mandi, pakka houses, ODF Toilets, etc. This was a result of PURA vision of Ex prezident APJ Kalam's vision of providing urban amenities to rural areas. The rural plus urban amalgamation of this sort is an Indian innovation. The villages don't lose their vedic soul while integrate modern technology.

The ODF status of the village has been possible by constructing bio toilets. These toilets harness the human waste and decompose it to produce bio gas that can be then used as a renewable fuel. Thus Innovation is shaping the future of new India.

One also sees a hospital in village. It remeinds us of  the harsh COVID 19 times. One remembers the contribution of Serum Institute of India lead by Adar Poonawala of inventing Covishield vaccine.It could protect 1.3 billion Indians and restore India to its tracks of progress.

One stops the cab. No need to pay in cash given the risks of COVID spreading. One can pay through UPI, Bharat Pe. It allows anyone with a valid bank account to transfer money instantly through a smart phone without any intermediary surcharge. Thus the future of digital India in a post pandemic, less cash economy is being realized through Innovation.

One finally reaches home. In the kitchen one finds a smokeless chulha. Recently, IISc has invented a smokeless chulha- Ojhas that has solved the problem of toxic gas producing chulhas of traditional households. It is more efficient, environment friendly and healthy, hence a cleaner alternative.

At home one can switch on the TV and is able to enjoy the benefits of satellite communication. One can appreciate how ISRO has been successful in historic projects like Mangalyaan. It was first ever such project by any developing nation. That too at a fraction of a cost of what it took developed nations. This was possible only because our scientists used the payload's inherent momentum to cruise instead of batteries. This reduced cost and weight of payload.  Next in line on similar technology is the Aditya project that aims to study sun. Thus innovation is shaping the future of new India.

Despite, being successful in Innovations in various domains, India has yet to cross the barrier of being a developed nation. This is because our innovation eco-system is also faced by certain hurdles that we urgently need to resolve.

Challenges faced by Innovation eco-system.

Despite being the global hotspot of growth in post pandemic world, India scores averagely in Global Innovation Index: 60th rank (2017) - second worst among BRICS nations. It has 216 R&D patents per million population in contrast to 4200 R&D patents per million population in USA. Moreover, around 33 percent of India's R&D publications are in bogus journals. 

Furthermore, some Indian minds have misused their creative intelligence. Like manipulating the electricity meters is commonly found in Kashmir's villages. This reflects the lack of stakeholder mentality among some citizens.

The innovative eco system also faces hardships from market side as well. Poor linkage between consumers and producers/ innovators leads to 90 percent of startups failing in the initial phase of their operation. 

This is coupled with the backend challenges like poor govt expenditure on Higher education (only 0.7 percent of GDP), red tape ridden patenting process, risk aversion culture in northern India youth where Govt job is considered ideal achievement vis a vis turning into an entrepreneur. Therefore, one needs to adopt reforms bold and swift as explained under.

Solutions to improve Innovation eco-system in India

Market Linkage between innovator and consumer can be improved by introducing accelerators and incubators at college level. One of the examples can be found in IIT Delhi that installed NIDHI and PRAYAS incubators. It provided seed funds to startups. And also marketed the product using 'I 2 I' link i.e Individual to India link. Hundreds of aspiring engineering graduates have realized their potential dream of successful startups in a fast transitioning new India.

Furthermore, it is encouraging to see that govt has tripled its expenditure on Innovation in past decade. This includes programs like Startup India, Imprint India, Ramanujan and INSPIRE scholarships to boost innovation. This has been highly instrumental in making India the startup capital of the world with over 100 unicorns (2022).

There exists a stage wise progression of Innovation which is Innovate Produce Patent Prosper (I 3 P). This chain needs to be further strengthened. Youth need to get out of the sarkari job mindset and start taking innovative risks . The value ethos of middle class North Indians needs to change and start respecting entrepreneurship like Gujratis and Marvari communities do. Popular contests like Shark Tank India on TV, Champions of Change program, Smart India Hackathons by NITI Aayog, etc have set the ball rolling in this regard. 

International collaborations like I 4 F between India and Israel would help Indian entrepreneurs to harness opportunities in future technologies like AI, ML, BC. The I-create centre at Ahmedabad between India Israel has made significant strides in this regard. One can witness, Blockchain technology already in use by Israeli govt, being adopted in various sectors in India. Sectors like land record management, service delivery, banking, etc are being studied under India Blockchain project by NITI Aayog. This would make governance transparent, accurate and accountable. Further, mutual learning between nations would help in thinking globally and acting locally.

Concluding Remarks

Necessity is the mother of Invention. Only when man feels the pain of a problem, he tries to solve it through innovation. And coincidently India being a developing country is in surplus of problems - socio economic, political. One only needs to convert these problems into opportunities. And this can happen only by adopting an innovative spirit, creative mind and scientific temper which is also our fundamental duty.

India's story of Innovation is being vigilantly observed by the world. Our ancient success stories starting from the Indus Valley Civilization to contemporary Unicorns are a proof of that. One only needs urgency in implementing our vision of Innovative India to reach in top 5 innovator nations by 2030 (as envisaged by STI Policy, 2013). There is no dearth of talent of creative padmans in our country as explained in the beginning of this essay.