Indians in important positions
Indians in important positions have to explain this. The concluding remark in the TNORD comments on Ranjan Joshi’s concluding Para said: “This Almora Convergence was preceded by the NPL Convergence that created TNORD. The Uttaranchal Chief Minister has thus the strength of the S&T and the presence of persons from UP hills in key positions in Govt. of India.” The CSIR Foundation Day Lecture also fixed the failure responsibility on important Indians as follows:
CSIR Foundation Day Lecture TNORD Comments
Let me clarify that the failure is of all Indians, especially Indians in important positions, whether in the field of politics, business, education, health, science or in any other field. The main difficulty with these VIPs is that they are born, brought up and work in the colonial culture of resistance to change. They do not know that a mere fulfilling procedure does not serve the organisation.
With this discussion we may now try to fix the real reality of India science, as it is currently understood by the media, by quoting the opening and concluding part of the Outlook article.
Opening para of the Outlook article Concluding para of the Outlook article
Think for a moment. Why is it that India can make satellites but we cannot provide drinking water to more than 70 per cent of its people? Why is that we can fashion sophisticated nuclear weapon systems but controlling epidemics like malaria or tuberculosis is not strategic enough? Why is that we are rooting for a mission to the moon but consider preventing floods that affect millions of lives every year. While there is a talk about raising S&T budget from the current 0.8 to about 2 per cent, there is still little talk of restructuring corrupt organizations like the UGC and the scientific bureaucracy of setting up norms of accountability, of a rethink on what constitutes strategic science. Without revamping and revitalizing universities, without democratising the process of funding and peer review and without taking into account people’s choices and aspirations. Mammon alone cannot revive the zombie of Indian science.
When the author of Outlook article was contacted on telephone, it was found that he is not aware of the virtual virtuality of the concept of technological nurseries and industrial orchards nor of the real reality of the corresponding successes of China through Spark and Town and Village Enterprises. The article talks about UGC as a corrupt organization, weaknesses of funding process and the process of peer review. The author concludes: “mammon alone cannot revive the zombie of Indian science”. He is right. The money must go to technological nurseries in the countryside to start the revival process. Even if we agree that the university system is corrupt and Indian science is dead, we cannot deny that these bodies have created a lot of organic material which cannot be used as such but it can get transformed into oil or coal to provide fuel for future developments just as the prehistoric life has provided us with the fuel that we are using in today’s societies. The additional money must go to the network of technological nurseries to afforest development in the countryside. This conceptual virtuality can made be turned into a real reality by experimenting with TNORD – the pioneering technological nursery.
We began this note by quoting Dr M S Swaminathan’s 1981 remarks in the foreword of the book “Science and Rural Development in Mountains: “We have so far concentrated mainly on methods of analysis of problems through frequent seminars, symposia etc. It is high time that we also took appropriate action since otherwise paralysis is the only result of analysis”. In relation to the arrival of the three new states we may rewrite these remarks as: “We have so far concentrated mainly in the creation of new states. It is high time that we also take appropriate action since otherwise the paralysis is the only result of peoples’ aspirations. TNORD is located in UP hills and, therefore, the economical issues of this note are specific to that region as the title New Economics: Analysis to prevent paralysis of the new state of Uttaranchal suggests. But the note mainly focuses on devising the operating system for utilising S&T resources and the action plan for the whole country and goes beyond to China where the ideas presented have actually been implemented
From uww interest in the last note “Introducing the Challenging Field of i-Business” in the series Science Driven Development of Uttaranchal , it is felt that the unpublished TNORD book “Techbio of the new economics for Uttaranchal” should be exposed to the web community without further reluctance. The author Pallavi Dhyani compiled the book from TNORD literature to explain the concept of technological nurseries and industrial orchards in a form that could be more acceptable to the readers. MPs, Ex-MPs from Uttaranchal and other stake holders in the TNORD programme are of course well informed but the depth of their understanding has not yet been estimated. The publication of the book could perhaps help an early implementation of the concept. Dr A P J Abdul Kalam had left Delhi to take over as the Professor of Technology and Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai. TNORD thought of requesting him to write the foreword. In the meantime Dr Kalam was chosen for the office of the President of India. The contents of the book at that stage were:
Foreward Abdul Kalam
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: New Economics: Analysis to prevent paralysis of the new state of Uttaranchal
Chapter 4: The new economics of science and rural development in mountains
Chapter 5:Management of Skills -Skill reinvestment and reinvestment skills
Chapter 6: Introducing the fascinating field of tech-bio
Chapter 7: The Developmental Photosynthesis Argument
Chapter 8: Introducing the Challenging Field of i-Business
Chapter 9: The Devbio of Business Creation
Chapter 10: The i-Business of Agra Summit – 2001
Chapter 11: The i-Business of Almora Convergence - Private view
Chapter 12: The i-Business of Almora Convergence - Official view
Chapter 13: From Developmental Photosynthesis to Enbio
Index
The later part of the introduction has already been published in uww under the title first thing first in Uttaranchal. It became the starting point of the series Science Driven Development of Uttaranchal. Now that the chapter 8 of the proposed book has appeared in uww the earlier part of the introduction should also be brought to the knowledge of web community. This forms the next instalment in the series Science Driven Development of Uttaranchal This part was presented in the manuscript as follows:
Making a reference to the 1980 Chinese science and technology policy, late Qiwen Lu observes in his article “Learning and innovation in a transitional economy: the rise of science and technology enterprises in the Chinese information technology industry” (Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Management, Vol., 1, No. 1, 2001), that the crux of the policy is captured in the following motto: “Economic construction should rely on science and technology; science and technology research should serve the needs of economic development”.
This in a way is a reiteration of the 1958 Scientific Policy Resolution in India. According to the preamble of this resolution “the creation and adoption of new scientific techniques can, in fact, make up for a deficiency in natural resources, and reduce the demands on capital”. The System Director of the Technological Nursery for Optics Research and Development (TNORD) drew the attention of Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Minister of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, to this article. In this article the author talks about the advantage that the ‘late late developers’ have. Uttaranchal is the latest among these late developers. Qiwen Lu’s article is based on his Ph.D. thesis for the Department of Sociology, Harvard University. In conclusion, the article says: “The issue is not only to identify specific institutional frameworks or organisational arrangements, but to look at the underlying mechanisms through which learning and innovation take place. This underlying logic is relevant to the larger issue of economic transition in the context of late development.” This is a very real expression of the underlying mechanism and understanding of TNORD.
The System Director, TNORD, also brought the point to the knowledge of Shri Kedar Singh Fonia, the first Science Minister of the new state of Uttaranchal. In his letter, the System Director reiterated his conclusion in his earlier letter to Dr Murli Manohar Joshi: “to look for the underlying mechanism through which learning and innovation can take place in Indian context, it is time for us to read the tiny book that Gandhiji’s Rachnatmak Karyakrama is. TNORD has tried to identify a specific institutional framework and organisational arrangement. This has become operational in China. It can be made operational in India on the basis of the experience of TNORD.”
He made the following case for Uttaranchal’s first science minister. “As the science minister of Uttaranchal your challenge and responsibility is to work for innovation management using intellectual capital of the day. According to Tsuneo Nakahara (Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Management, Vol., 1, No. 1, 2001, p 96), in borderless economy of the day, ‘corporations must search for new solutions to overcome problems that have an immediate impact on their competitiveness and a long term impact on their survival.” Uttaranchal is one such corporation. The solutions for its problems will be “usually found in developing innovations in strategy, products, processes and marketing.’ TNORD has not only offered to help Uttaranchal in this vision - it has already built an intellectual capital in this connection (this letter and earlier letters to you and similar letters to others including Dr Joshi and others form part of this intellectual capital). ‘The intellectual capital is knowledge built up over the course of the corporation business and serves as a vital resource for moving to a more efficient and effective business model’, says Tsuneo Nakahara.”
TNORD can confidently use the above words of Tsuneo Nakahara to insist “The intellectual capital acquired by TNORD over the course of its struggle is a source of knowledge, stands as a model and serves as a vital resource for making Uttaranchal move to a more efficient and effective business situation in the direction of development”. Developing innovations in strategy is as important as developing innovations in products, processes and marketing. The evolution of the concept of technological nurseries and industrial orchards is certainly an innovation in the mother strategy that will lead to interconnected innovations in products, processes and marketing.
The state department of Science and Technology has to play a proactive role in fostering industrial development of Uttaranchal. TNORD has already acquired intellectual capital in this direction and is capable of serving a model for this adventure. The Department of Science and Technology can make use of this capital supporting TNORD and utilising its consultation power.
Even the far less committed people agree that “Development in science and technology would certainly create some gap between material well being of the humankind and cultural values in their life. Jawaharlal Nehru had once remarked that changes took place even in the past ages, but the pace was relatively slow and the man had the time to adjust himself in to the new conditions. But in the recent years, the pace of change has been amazingly swift and it has been difficult for the human being to adjust him to this ever-changing situation. It is not surprising that this should result in an uprooting of the present generation from its old standards and values and the search for something new. While discarding the old mysteries, we now live on the edge of a new kind of a mystery. A few of us are driven to deeper thought and enquiry and search for the ultimate values, but most of the others are finding it too difficult to make any sense out of this confusion, relapse into cynicism and negative attitudes, rejecting the old patterns and evolving no new ones.”
At this point we may leave the cyber space of this techbio book and return to the field of action. The manuscript of the above book slept after making the comment “System Director, TNORD, also brought the point to the knowledge of Shri Kedar Singh Fonia, the first Science Minister of the new state of Uttaranchal. In his letter, the System Director reiterated his conclusion in his earlier letter to Dr Murli Manohar Joshi: “to look for the underlying mechanism through which learning and innovation can take place in Indian context, it is time for us to read the tiny book that Gandhiji’s Rachnatmak Karyakrama is. TNORD has tried to identify a specific institutional framework and organisational arrangement. This has become operational in China. It can be made operational in India on the basis of the experience of TNORD. The current Chief Minister is himself active in this direction and the instalment in the series science driven development of Uttaranchal bearing the title ‘How to ensure that Poor delivery does not undercut pro-active approach of the seasoned Chief Minister’.
The technique of i-business seeks some counter part term for cyber space. We may call this ground space and this ground space is provided by Gumod Parikrama – a hand written daily tutorial. Selected pieces of this hand written daily tutorial are reproduced by a ground news paper Pyara Uttarakhand under the title: Gumod Parikrama : Fatte ki Sarkar. Fatta is a Punjabi word representing a wide width sitting bench where drivers of a taxi stand sit, rest, eat and sleep. As stated in the i-business article, Gumod is a real village in Champavat district of Uttaranchal that lies on Delhi Pithoragarh route. A large number of taxi drivers from this village work in the Samachar Taxi Stand close to the Headquarters of TNORD. Sardar Amrik Singh, owner of the Taxi Stand has Dehra Dun connections. His mausi lived there. Her family owned several trucks. In those days lime stone mining had not been banned. Sardar Amarik Singh a driver by profession wanted a career in Dehra Dun. After spending two years in Dehra Dun he decided to buy a taxi and later become the owner of a taxi stand. Fatta has now become a counter-part for the term cyber space in i-business terminology.
The uww has already published the account of Koshiyariji and his eighty days. Several notes have also a reference to Tiwariji and his pro-active movement. Still it will be useful if we just consider the follow up action on one letter. TNORD letter dated Delhi-December 29, 2002, addressed to Shri N D Tiwari, Chief Minister, Uttaranchal wrote:
You are already working for setting up a lens industry in Uttaranchal through TNORD and in this connection your following observation at the recent NDC meeting has a practical significance:
In view of the industrial backwardness of the state we have set up a Multipurpose Industrial Development Corporation to promote setting up of industries in the state. To run this Corporation on commercial lines we have sought participation from national level financing institutions like SIDBI, LIC and ICICI.
The next sentence of your speech is ‘For various reasons, the state is suffering from extreme industrial backwardness.’ To match this sentence I am quoting the editorial comment in the copy of the first page of the article: ‘Role of Research in Economic Growth’ by Raymond H Swell of National Science Foundation, Washington D C from Chemical and Engineering News, Vol 33, page 2980, July 18, 1955. This article gives cumulative expenditure fro Research and Development in the US (from 1774 to the end of each year up to 1954) saying ‘The most important single factor in economic growth in the United States may be its high percentage of national income devoted to research and development.’
The Multipurpose Industrial Development Corporation must be aware of the role of industrial research and development preceding the industrial process. Fortunately for them the experience of TNORD is readily available and I would request you to kindly ask the concerned officials to get in touch with TNORD and be instrumental in removing its difficulties. This may become a self-learning process for them.
It appears that this letter has been sent for necessary action to Shri S P Tripathi, Managing Director, State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal Limited (Sidcul). He has been in touch with the TNORD System Director. On March 4, 2003 TNORD sent an e-mail letter to Shri Tripathi:
TNORD notes from your web literature that
“This Corporation would play a stellar role in the promotion of Industries, providing adequate and timely finance, developing the required infrastructure, technology up-gradation and setting up of high technology pollution free industries, ensuring implementation of IPR and other related policies of the State.
“To achieve these objectives the Corporation is undertaking varied activities, such as Industrial promotion, preparing a shelf of projects, data bank, and giving consultancy services, organising entrepreneurship development programmes, bringing out publications, Organising of Industrial fairs, Seminars and road shows, financing of Industries, arranging consortium funding, financing and promoting service industry and other related activities.
“The Corporation's activities also include creation, development and management of existing and new Industrial Estates, Parks, townships, etc directly, or by user Industry Association. The existing Industrial Estates & Parks of UPSIDC and erstwhile Directrorate of Industries falling in the geographical area of Uttaranchal Government also vest in this Corporation.”
These very functions are also featured in the detailed project report of Lens Nirman evam Utpadan Sansthan that is to be set up by TNORD in Sangliya, Block Nainidanda in Pauri District of Uttaranchal. These are, however, mechanical features the organization. During the struggle of TNORD to implement the programme it experienced difficulties. It was found that it is necessary to move in what we define as the techbio direction. This direction has evolved through various stages and these stages are described in the following annual reports of the organization:
Report Year Focus Title
Annual Report 1 (1990-1991) Background
Annual Report 2 (1991-1992) NPL-TNORD separation: Transfer of relevant NPL activities to TNORD
Annual Report 3 (1992-1993) Acquisition of Independent SIRO status
Annual Report 4 (1993-1994) Focus on organizational R&D & knock research in development
Annual Report 5 (1994-1995) Casting TNORD programme in accordance with the DST pro forma.
Annual Report 6 (1995-1996) Change of guards problem and sustenance of organisational coherence
Annual Report 7 (1996-1997) Double-loop R&D learning: Width and Depth of the TNORD programme
Annual Report 8 (1997-1998) Organisational basics of Developmental Innovation
Annual Report 9 (1998-1999) TNORD as a comprehensive treatise in experimental development
Annual Report 10 (1999-2000) From NPL to NLP: Confidence inspires confidence
Annual Report 11 (2000-2001) Working for mindset change in science
Annual Report 12 (2001-2002) Organisational techbio concepts