Cool Bihari

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Empowering Bihar through renewable energy

For a State growing at around 10% per annum, Bihar’s power requirement is expected to be around 8000 mega watts in the in next 5 years. Bihar has a power generation capacity of 584MW compared with a demand of around 2500MW. The deficit is made up by accessing the central pool quota of 1,200MW, of which the supply is around 700MW. As a result, frequent and prolonged power outages are common across the state.

In recent times, State has approved many power projects and also worked towards increasing the production capacity of existing plants. Bihar is to set up three new thermal power plants to generate 3,960 MW of energy. The plants, of 1,320 MW each, will be set up at Kajra in Lakhisarai, Piparpainti in Bhagalpur and Chusa in Buxar districts.Bihar continues to suffer due to Power deficiency; one of the biggest challenges lies in the area of distribution and coverage. Last mile connectivity issues, maintenance and collection are other areas which also needs special attention.

Greenpreace recently ran campaign in the state to create awareness for developing models for renewable energy and developing local self sustaining models of power generations to fuel the growth and growing need of power in rural Bihar.

Its public manifesto to make Bihar power self sufficient has the idea of Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) model works on the principle of producing electricity through renewable energy near the source of use or consumption. For example, a village which receives abundant sunshine throughout the year and has surplus biomass could become self-sufficient in energy by producing power through a combination of renewable energy technologies such as solar energy and/or biomass and manage the system locally.

The model ensures democratization of the process of power production and secures access to reliable and quality energy for the community via utilization of locally available resources. Successful case studies of the DRE model titled “Empowering Bihar” showcases the success story of Rice Husk Power System & Tripolia Hospital Solar Research center.

Currently Bihar govt does support schemes for bio-gas development, SPV systems of Lanterns/Home lighting systems/street lighting systems, and wind mills. Bihar Govt policy on private sector participation for developing non conventional energy sources is available here

Given the unique growth trajectory and need for power, it would be a great opportunity for private players to get associated with this exciting journey of empowering Bihar.

Labels: Bihar Economic Development, Development Projects in Bihar, Entrepreneurship, Grassroot Innovation, Green Initiative, Husk Power

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 2:22 AM | Permalink | Comments

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Agricultural Innovation in Rural Bihar

Bihar has seen significant growth in the area of infrastructure and related dimensions of economic development in the last few years. Bihar has around 60% of its workforce sustaining livelihood through agricultural sector and 42% of the State Domestic Product comes from agricultue. It clearly indicates that without agricultural development, growth will remain on periphery and majority of the rural and semi rural areas will be marginalized.

Bihar has a total geographical area of about 93.60 lakh hectare, out of which only 56.03 lakh hectare is the net cultivated area and gross cultivated area being 79.46 lakh hectare. About 33.51 lakh hectare net area and 43.86 lakh hectare gross area receive irrigation from different sources. Principal food crops are paddy, wheat, maize and pulses. Main cash crops are sugarcane, potato, tobacco, oilseeds, onion, chillies and jute and. Bihar has notified forest area of 6,764.14 sq km, which is 7.1 per cent of its geographical area.

In recent times, we are seeing significant innovation in the way agricultural sector has been reaping the benefits of modern and scientific agri farming models. There has been series of success stories of farming winning recognition for their innovative agri business approach.

The prestigious Jagjivan Ram Kisan Purushkar was awarded to a Bihari Farmer, Sudhanshu Kumar of Nayanagar, a remote village in Samastipur district. Sudhanshu, a Delhi University alumnus has been a harbinger of change in Samastipur district by promoting many innovative tools and skills of modern farming. He successfully raised the productivity of his Mango orchard from mere ten thousand to nine lacs in a period of three to four years and similarly experimented the innovative modern techniques to his litchi orchard.

Ramashaker vaidh, came to Rampur chai village in Arwal district around 30 years back. What was then an infertile stretch of land has now become a blooming garden due to his ardent belief and sustained effort.He has almost every fruits in his huge garden spread over 50 acres. The key differentiator about his farming technique is the organic method, which he believes is sustainable and healthier. He spread his wisdom by helping other farmers in adopting organic & modern methods of farming.

Kedar Nath Jha’s journey has also been equally interesting . A pioneer in Makhana cultivation, Kedar Nath Jha of Ujjan village of Manigachhi (Madhubani district) raises this crop in about 70 ponds taken on lease from others. He grows and markets the crop himself. “Cultivation was uneconomical earlier due to the low price paid by traders in this remote rural area with poor communication and market information facilities.

Entrepreneur Satyajeet Kumar Singh who has established a modern makhana processing plant at Patna by investing of Rs.70 crore and has also established linkages with farmers spread over in eight districts. His network currently covers more than four thousand farmers and his Sudha Shakti Industry and Centres of khet se bazaar tak (from field to the market) network for increasing production and organizing marketing is paying dividends to a large number of farmers.If farmers in Bihar properly exploit this crop, they will have the potential to produce makhana worth more than Rs. 400-500 crores.

These success stories really augurs well for the state’s agricultural growth and sustained growth as agricultural growth lays the foundation of a more self sustaining and covers majority of the marginal farmers in the state.

Labels: Agri Business, Agricultural Innovation, Grassroot Innovation, Rural Development, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Bihar's Super 30 gets International Recognition

Bihar’s Super 30 has added another laurel to its credit. Recently Super 30 was featured by Time magazine in the list of the "Best of Asia 2010", now Newsweek in its latest edition included Super 30 in the li st of four most innovative schools in the world.

Newsweek quotes "For years now the path to the top in India has funneled through the highly competitive entrance exam for the precious few places in the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). For the privileged, the test is tough; for the disadvantaged, it can be crippling. But thanks to an innovative training program created by 37-year-old math whiz Anand Kumar, smart but underprivileged kids in the impoverished state of Bihar are winning acceptance to IITs at an unprecedented rate. Each year Kumar selects 30 deserving students—including Dalits, or the so-called Untouchables—and houses, feeds, and trains them vigorously, all for free.

This was the third consecutive year that all 30 of his students got into the IITs—a fraction of the 10,000 students selected from the 472,000 who applied. Since its inception in 2002, “Super 30,” as the program is called, has sent 212 of its 240 graduates to five-year science and engineering courses at the IITs. Some are already in high-paying jobs in various industries both in India and abroad.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Green Initiative

On the eve of world’s environment day, it’s heartening to see encouraging green initiatives in Bihar. Civil Servent SM Raju, has come up with a novel way of providing employment to millions of poor in the eastern state of Bihar.

BBC reports “His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities. “

Evidence of Mr Raju's success could clearly be seen on 30 August, when he organised 300,000 villagers from over 7,500 villages in northern Bihar to engage in a mass tree planting ceremony. In doing so the agriculture graduate from Bangalore has provided "sustainable employment" to people living below the poverty line in Bihar.

Mr Raju has linked his "social forestry" programme to the central government's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which is also designed to provide employment to poor people.

Labels: Development Projects in Bihar, Environmental Science, Grassroot Innovation, Green Initiative, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Abhivyakti 2010 - Bihar Film Festival

The longest running low cost film festival in Bihar, started as ‘All Bihar VHS videofest’ in 1995 is held every two years to encourage the use of audio-visual media as a tool of holistic development, democratic values and freedom of expression.

A three day festival of the alternative kick starts on Friday 30 April, as a section of students, educators and young documentary enthusiasts come together at the Ravi Bharati campus in Kurji for a three day festival.

Mithila Sanskar Geet produced by the Sangeet Natak Academy and directed by Prof. Shankar Dutt kicks off the festival on April 30. The film documents the ‘geets’ and traditional cultural practices of Mithilanchal. These intangible practices are gradually becoming extinct because of rapid urbanisation and migration which are unchecked demographic movements of our times. Apart from a selection of films by well known documentary film makers, student films from all over India, as well as student work from Bihar will be exhibited. Films made by the children of Bihar Bal Bhawan are to be a major attraction on closing day, May 2.

“Our objective has always been to promote the video camera as a tool for holistic development and the promotion of human rights. We also aim to help students, and members of the larger community around us to develop an understanding of the audio-visual medium,” says Frank Krishner, who has been convenor for the videofest since the year 2000.

Since the early 1990’s when VHS was a new medium, and the video cassette recorder was making its way into middle class homes throughout the country, Dr Jacob Srampickal SJ, a well known media trainer and analyst, then director of Ravi Bharati, organised the first All Bihar VHS video festival to encourage local video-film makers in the new medium.

The idea was to enlist camcorder in the cause of social communication; to use the relatively low-cost VHS as an alternative to the expensive, establishment-oriented ‘mainstream’ mass-communication machine.

Today, with computers and convergence media bringing down costs still further, the role of video as a narrator of the realities of the marginalised, the displaced, and the alternative, is has greater significance. On the one hand is the corporate, organised, 24 hour news media that sets the agenda for discourse that screens out the serious and highlights the sensational. On the other is the untold stories of millions of ordinary citizens that need to be told.

Every two years, Ravi Bharati celebrates these stories with a three day alternative low-cost festival, inviting videos made by enthusiasts, students, children, idealists, social workers, educationists, documentary film makers and assorted activists. “Abhivyakti”, the word for ‘expression’ in Hindi has been chosen as the name of the festival.

The films are intended to provoke discussions and ideas, and there is time for discussion after each film. Mr RN Dash, president of the Cine Society, Patna, has often lauded the Ravi Bharati Videofest as being the most consistently run non-profit endeavour to promote documentaries in Bihar.

Abhivyakti [formerly All Bihar VHS video fest] is the oldest grassroots folk-based media events in Bihar. Videos and features premiered in this festival have gone on to win accolades for the film-makers in bigger festivals. In recent years, the festival has begun to attract a significant number of student film-makers and short student films.

The purpose of the fest is to highlight issues of social importance, introduce alternative film-makers to the people, and to provide enhanced media literacy for students and interested persons

Venue: Ravi Bharati, Seva Kendra Campus, Near Kurji HF Hospital, Sadaquat Ashram, Patna 800010 Contact numbers: Fr Benny Moolan SJ, Director, Ravi Bharati 0612- 2263455

Frank Krishner Convenor 93344 90050

Labels: Abhivyakti, Bihar Film Festival, Cultural Program, Grassroot Innovation

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Social Innovation Matters

If someone ever felt short of ideas and inspiration, one just needs to looks at the fabulous innovations which have taken place in Bihar over the last few years. Always lambasted for it’s under utilization of its natural resources, recent idea rich innovations have given momentum to grass root innovations.

This has been the most encouraging development; some of these innovations are just example of how people take upon themselves the task of development wherever state fails to reaches out. In many case state has partnered in fostering and shaping these initiatives.

Recently concluded Manthan Awards had some interesting nominations and of the many Bihar-based e-governance projects submitted as nominees this year, the Manthan jury picked Jaankari.

In this project the Bihar government provides a dedicated phone number for any information a Bihari would like to seek under Right to Information (RTI) Act. Basically, a simple service via telephone for public good. Jaankari works wonders for all without any literacy or technology barriers. It assists citizens in getting their RTI requests recorded and typed out by a Jaankari centre assistant and an email is sent to them and the officer concerned for record and action. Queries are responded to within 35 days.

Another social innovation project which has received global recognition has been the “Samman” Cycle Rickshaw project. US Ambassador during his visit to Bihar extended invite to Irfan Alam from President Barack Obama for his work with rickshaw-pullers. Washington will be hosting a conference to recognize the work of social entrepreneurs.

Labels: Cycle Rickshaw Project- Samman, E-Governance in Bihar, Grassroot Innovation, Jankari, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Global recognition for Bihar's Husk Power Project

In one of my earlier post I had mentioned about the classic example of grass root innovation by Manoj Sinha who was featured on NYT for his unique contribution of coming up with Husk power system for transforming rural power generation. Husk Power Systems won first place in 2008 in the University of Virginia business plan competition and the social innovation competition at the University of Texas, Austin.

This model has been now won global recognition by beating more than 1,000 competitors from world over to bag the inaugural Global Business Plan Competition award.The award was sponsored by leading American venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Cisco. India's Husk Power System would receive $250,000 (nearly Rs 1.20 crore) as investment from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Cisco to help take the technology to the next level; thus giving it an opportunity to expand to other parts of the state.

"Deciding on just one winner was difficult, especially with this caliber of candidates. We are excited to have chosen Husk Power Systems, which is especially remarkable for its alternative power technology, and we can't wait to see how this team becomes the next game changer," Draper Fisher Jurvetson MD Tim Draper said.

"Given Cisco's focus on emerging countries and the use of innovative technology to provide enhanced essential services, Cisco's investment in Husk Power Systems is a great way for us to accelerate these themes," added Hilton Romanski, Vice-President of corporate development for Cisco.

The company, which the two venture capitals believe has the potential to change the face of rural areas, especially in the rice belt of Northern India, by converting rice husk into energy, was founded in 2007 by two University of Virginia, Darden School of Business 2009 graduates Chip Ransler and Manoj Sinha.

Labels: Bihari Newsmakers, Development Projects in Bihar, Grassroot Innovation, Husk Power, Newsmaker from Bihar, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Power Generation for Rural Bihar

Grass root innovation is gaining considerable momentum in Bihar. We have yet another success story of Manoj Sinha who has been recently featured on NYT for his unique contribution of coming up with Husk power system for transforming rural power generation. Husk Power Systems won first place in 2008 in the University of Virginia business plan competition and the social innovation competition at the University of Texas, Austin.

After earning an electrical engineering degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and working for the Intel Corporation, he began exploring ways to turn farm waste into electricity, with the dream of building village-scale generators.Last year at the University of Virginia, where he is studying for a master’s at the Darden School of Business, he and a fellow student, Charles Ransler, teamed up with another engineer from Bihar, Gyanesh Pandey, and Husk Power Systems was born.

The Indian engineers, both 31, had initially planned on raising money to build small generators for simply a few villages. But the company now has a proprietary generator that runs on a methane-like gas released by heating rice husks a certain way. A waste product of rice milling, husks are plentiful in villages. While agricultural waste is common for generating heat, it is not often used for generating electricity, and there is nothing remotely like this system in the villages of developing countries. The system produces enough electricity to supply 300 to 500 households for 8 to 10 hours a day. A byproduct is silica, a valuable ingredient in making cement.
The long-term plan is to profit from the global market in credits — earned by avoiding greenhouse-gas emissions, which result from burning fossil fuels like coal — and to sell the benefit.

Another worthy contribution in this area has been the Samman foundation, lead by Irafan Alam. Samman foundation is currently amongst the top 10 finalist in the Tata Nen hottest start up competition. Best wishes to his team for the final stage.

Read more about Grass root innovation in Bihar here.

Labels: Bihar 2.0, Bihar Economic Development, Bihari Newsmakers, Bihari Talent, Grassroot Innovation, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Bihar's Transformation Journey

Bihar is witnessing a slow and steady transformation these days and the heroes of this journey are its often ignored human capital. We have so many success stories today which have been path breaking and also been augmenting incremental change in the social landscape of Bihar. These stories are definite signs of Bihar’s turnaround story. These happens to be few of the most unbelievable things which one would expect to hear from Bihar.

Take the example of Kaushalendra, a topper from IIM-Ahmedabad, who decided to forsake rewarding and cozy corporate life and go for setting up a vegetable distribution network which intends to promote brand Bihar by supplying fresh vegetable.

''My dream is to make Bihar the vegetable hub of the country. I want to see vegetables in the name of Brand Bihar in the every plate of Indians,'' he says.

What made Kaushalendra go off the beaten path was his close links with his native village in Nalanda where cultivating vegetables is a way of life. Born to modest vegetable farmers’ family in central Bihar’s Ahmad Nagar village (Nalanda), Kaushilendra received his education in a rural government school while assisting his family in farming. Nalanda, incidentally, is known as the “vegetable bowl” of Bihar.

If this was not enough, the amazing journey of Drishtee in transforming the rural landscape in Madhubani, Bihar deserves special mention. This is perhaps one of the most unique BPO’s in the country, set up in Bihar and run by people from socially underprivileged section of the social strata.

Located in Saurath Village this initiative has empowered locals to think beyond the regular means of earning livelihood. The employees of this call centre mostly communicate in Hindi but they are slowly gearing up to speak and communicate effectively in English.

"We need to engage them to stop this problem of brain drain and migration. I feel if we are able to do this, then these problems will stop to a great extent. I believe this is the first of its kind, the first rural BPO in India," said Kamlesh Kumar, the manager of Drishti Business Process Outsourcing. "We want to learn things in life so that it helps us ahead in life. We are from backward area. This training in computers and BPO will really help us," said Alok Kumar Thakur, a trainee. There are around 35 literate boys and girls from the village who are undergoing a three-month training course.

If India has to truly come up to face the talent challenges and bridge the rural-urban digital divide ,success stories like this will go a long way in creating more opportunities for the needy and under privileged.

The success of students from Patwatoli village from Gaya in Bihar is also a unique phenomena .More than 100 students have cracked the most competitive IIT-JEE entrance exam over the years.Most of these students belong to poor weaver’s community and together they have changed the milieu of this village by ensuring that they bring honour to their families and village by ensuring high success rate in the competition.

Every year students of this village are guided by their seniors who share their experience and learning with these aspirants .They study together, share the same textbooks(mostly passed on by seniors) and burn the midnight oil together to achieve their goals within limited means.

Despite the odds, the only guiding mantra for them is the inspiration they get from others who have already made it to the IIT’s and their approach of group study has helped them change the destiny of the entire village. Together these heroes have changed the way the world looks at them and also created inspiring success stories.

Labels: Bihar 2.0, Bihari Newsmakers, Bihari Talent, BPO, Development Projects in Bihar, Drishtee, Gaya, Grassroot Innovation, IIM, IIT-JEE, Patwatoli, Social Entrepreneurs, Video

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 1:38 AM | Permalink | Comments

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Innovation in Bihar's Agricultural Sector

Bihar's economy is primarily agriculture based and it’s encouraging to see the innovative practices which farmers in Bihar have been adopting over the year to generate various sources of revenue. Traditionally our fertile land has been the major source of revenue and livelihood for the agrarian society in the villages. However over the years floods have become a perennial cause of concern and in view of the nature’s fury new means to generate alternate streams of revenue from the agro based industries has gained momentum.

Take the example of Mr. Shanker Kishore Chaudhary, a progressive small scale farmer of Vaishali district,Bihar, who cultivates elephant foot yam (commonly called as Ool in North India) in his three-acre field. Without stopping with just growing the tuber crop, he has also taken up value added products by creating 33 different varieties of recipes from it such as sweets, pickle, mouth-freshner, and brewing powders similar to the tea.

Elephant foot yam is a tuber crop commonly used as a vegetable and for preparation of pickles and sauce. The tuber is commonly called as Jimikand or Ool in North India, Sooran in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Kand in Andhra Pradesh, Karnai Kilangu in Tamil Nadu and Suwarnagatti in Karnataka, it is cultivated all over the country.

“This value addition has increased the marketability and has demonstrated immense product potentials of this tuber,” said R. Ramadhar, Chairman, Bihar State Farmers Commission, Patna. Mr. Chaudhary grows the crop in his field and also takes the lands of other farmers on rent for raising the crop.“I normally harvest 50-60 tonnes from a hectare of land and earn a gross income of Rs. 2 lakhs in about 10 months.

A number of farmers in the state have adopted Ool farming as a means to supplement their income. Mr. Choudhary provides marketing support to the other yam farmers at a margin of 5 -10 per cent through contract farming. “Besides the contract agreements between Mr. Choudhary and the farmers, there are individual farmers who have taken up Ool cultivation and sell the products to local traders,” said Mr. Ramadhar.

For more information readers can contact Mr. Ramadhar, Chairman, Bihar State Farmers Commission, Pant Bhawan, 1st Floor, Bailey Road, Patna- 800001, e-mail: ramadhar@vsnl.com and kisanayog@gmail.com, phone:0612-2206169 and 2232847

Labels: Agri Business, Bihar Economic Development, Grassroot Innovation

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Appan Samachar-Women News channel in Bihar

Aapaan Samachar is an all-women community news network located in Bihar’s remote Ramlila Gachi village.

"We look around for issues that affect the villagers, shoot them and then put them on air,” says the channel’s news anchor Khushboo.

This news network runs on minimum resources. Reporters, camerapersons and anchors, all move around on bicycles with their handycams, looking for stories of human interest.

Aapaan Samachar is free to air. The network, in addition to providing news that is of use to these villagers, is also a vehicle for women empowerment. This makes Santosh Anand, who has funded the initiative, a proud man.

“It’s a great move in the direction of women empowerment. The parents of these girls want their daughters to move ahead in life and venture into such initiatives," he says.

Managing with bare minimum resources, the channel has far-reaching impact. The issues raised by these firebrand reporters concern everyone, making this news channel No. 1 in the race for eyeballs.

Watch the Video on IBN-CNN live.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Labels: Appan Samachar, Bihar 2.0, Development Projects in Bihar, Grassroot Innovation, Social Entrepreneurs, Women achiever from Bihar

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Another hero emerges

We are aware of the stupendous super human efforts of late Dashrath Manjhi from Gaya in Bihar who tore open a 300-feet-high hill to create a one-km passage.Now we have another legend from Bihar who has achieved something which is again an unique achievement in itself.

Kamaleshwari Singh, a semi-literate farmer of Manikpur village in Barh block of Patna district, surprised everyone who came to know of his feat. Over seven years, this man has dug a 60-ft-by-60-ft pond that is 25 ft deep, all by himself, using only a trowel and a bucket. He had to use a trowel, he says, because he could not manage to lift a spade.

Manikpur village had no pond before Kamaleshwari decided to get one dug, thereby making a permanent source of water available to the residents of Manikpur.What makes Kamaleshwari’s achievement more significant is that his initial inspiration for the job and his continued determination to keep digging for seven years came from his frustration with what he calls “nasty village politics”. He was not a participant in village politics.

A simple farmer who owned 12 bighas of land 15 years ago and now has only five bighas, he got entangled in the regular tide of crime in his village and surrounding villages. His elder son, who kept fighting pitched battles for supremacy with gangsters in the nearby villages, was killed. Kamaleshwari had to sell seven bighas of his land to fight court cases. Thoroughly disgusted, he once decided not to fight any court cases and to rather concentrate on “something constructive”.

“I always wanted my village Manikpur to have a pond of its own. For years, when I was young, I tried to persuade villagers and even local politicians to help set up a pond in the village. But nobody paid attention to what I said. As I kept witnessing the people of my village finding it difficult to take proper baths and irrigate their farms close to their homes, something kept burning inside me as I was unable to do anything myself. I found myself getting falsely implicated in cases like violent crimes and even a murder in all those years. After losing my 26-year-old elder son, Siyaram, to gang war, I decided to forget all bitterness and start doing something constructive,” Kamaleshwari.

Even as stories about the pond and the old man’s feat keep being proudly narrated in various meetings of politicians and officials in Patna, local officials and elected leaders have hardly visited the pond. Neither the sarpanch nor the mukhiya have come calling, let alone the MLAs and ministers. There was some talk about recommending his name for felicitation by the government, but nothing has happened so far. “I want some development in this village. We need wires on the electricity poles, good roads and fish in this pond. I want to meet the chief minister at his Janata Ka Durbar in Patna soon,” said Kamaleshwari.

Kudos to the effort of this Hero who dared to think the impossible and break the shakles of conventional wisdom.

Labels: Bihar, Bihari Newsmakers, Bihari Talent, Grassroot Innovation, Kamaleshwari Singh

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Video on Sammaan

A video on the Sammaan project in Bihar which was recently awarded second prize in the first Bihar Innovation Forum.

Previous post on the project.

Labels: Bihari Newsmakers, Bihari Talent, Cycle Rickshaw Project- Samman, Grassroot Innovation, Irfan Alam, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

E-governance in Rural Bihar

Bihar govt. has taken a laudable initiative to initiate the e-governance project in all its 8,479 panchayats at a cost of INR 252 million.

The proposal that was approved last week at a state cabinet meeting in Patna aims at setting up a panchayat information centres or panchayat portals called Vasudha Kendras that will enable villagers to connect with the outside world and provide affordable and easy access to information about the government and its policies.

These Vasudha Kendras would further be connected to all state departments through the Internet and the government will provide computers and Internet connections at the panchayat level centre. According to the plan, eight government departments, including the chief minister secretariat, will be linked to the State-wide Area Network (SWAN).

The project aims at establishing direct contact with villagers and making the functioning of the government more transparent.

According to reports, the project would be developed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) along with the Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation, a state-owned IT body, while Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) will monitor the implementation.The state had provided top administrative officials and ministers with laptops as part of its e-Governance initiative only recently. Besides, it has also connected all its 38 district headquarters through video-conferencing link.

Initiatives like these definitely give more credibility to the idea of Bihar 2.0 and if executed well it bring about lot of ground level changes at the local level . One of the challenges which Bihar is facing today is that of proper governance at micro levels like panchyats and small districts. Govt funds and other incentives to boost employment opportunities and income levels in these villages have proved to be an execution nightmare due to inefficiencies existing in the current structure. The advent of e-governance will surely improve things at ground level at it will allow govt officials to keep closer watch on the project implementation and execution of ideas at grassroots levels.

Labels: Bihar 2.0, Bihar Govt., Development Projects in Bihar, E-Governance in Bihar, Grassroot Innovation, Infrastructure, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Bihar first to introduce Biometrics tracking for NREG

It’s encouraging to see the way technology is being used to bridge the gaps between haves and have not’s . Bihar govt has decided to issue smart job cards that also double up as ATM/debit cardsv for villagers working under NREG scheme through biometric authentication.

These villagers are workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme (NREG) and are among 170 men and women in two villages who would be the first to be registered as NREG members through a foolproof biometric verification device.

For three days from last Tuesday, after the initial hostility and scepticism, villagers in Kurkuri and Dhuparchak Mushahari in Phulwarisharif block of Patna district, gathered at the Panchayat office to place their fingers (all 10) on a Korean-made biometric device. Each finger was registered twice for getting the best value of minutiae counts (the whorls and ridges on a finger).

Then the villagers were photographed and all their personal data was registered on their NREG Card. With the photograph and details scanned and attached to their names, the state created a permanent database on the workers.

After the registration process was completed, the verification was done immediately by entering the NREG ID number, and the beneficiary was asked to place any finger on the biometric device, a small machine that is easily portable to the worksite. The individual’s photograph instantly popped up from the database on the computer monitor.

All that a panchayat would need for implementing a fool-proof registration and verification process is a biometric device costing about Rs. 20,000, a laptop computer of about Rs. 25,000, a webcam or a digital camera and a personnel for operating the devices.

With Nitish Kumar keen on making the poverty alleviation programme a success in his state, his government had initially hit on the idea of fingerprinting each of the NREG workers at the time of registration and during payment of their wages. But this was hardly effective since verification of the fingerprints was a mind-boggling process and required a forensic expert to certify each of them.

It was around this time that an article in The Indian Express on January 28 this year on a biometric tracking concept devised by Kris Dev, a Chennai-based e-governance consultant, caught the attention of the Bihar administration. Mukherji got in touch with Kris Dev and asked him to prove to the state government that the technology worked at the ground level. “If your solution does all that the article describes, it would be ideal for Bihar where people find ways to beat all systems,” Mukherji told Kris Dev.

Dev went to Patna in February to make a presentation to the Bihar State Electronics Corporation and later at two villages. On June 7, Nitish Kumar watched the demo in the two villages that Kris Dev presented and gave a spot clearance for the concept to be implemented throughout Bihar.

“It is surprising that Bihar should become the first state in India to introduce biometric tracking for NREG,” said Dev today.

Labels: Biometrics for NREG, Grassroot Innovation

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Cycle Rickshaw Project-Samman

It great to see the innovative efforts of Irfan Alam who has come up with unique idea of rickshaws with seat belt, first aid kit, lilting music, insurance cover for driver and passenger and much more.

Social Innovation of this type gives just us the idea about the untapped potential which exists in Bihar.Irfan's effort not only gives this age old profession a new face but also brings lot of respect to the profession. It symbolizes the changing face of Bihar where every individual is given its due place in society as we are rising above the social stigmas of caste and creed in our journey to create a socially equitable state.

Nearly 100 such cycle rickshaws are seen traversing the city roads, after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the ‘Cycle Rickshaw project – Samman’ from Sheikhpura House in Patna.

The innovative project, conceived by Irfan Alam, a 25-year-old youth from Begusarai, who wore the Zee TV’s ‘Business Baazigar’ crown, is being supported by the State Government.An MBA from Pondicherry, having done his management development programme from IIM-A, Irfan met Nitish when the latter visited the institute last November.

Irfan, who is the founder and director of Samman Foundation, a New Delhi-based NGO, wants to take the environment-friendly cycle rickshaw to the luxury lane by providing facilities like soft drink, mineral water, newspaper and first aid in a rickshaw. The project, given the go-ahead even by Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, is working fine in the New Capital Region (NCR). Irfan is very passionate about his project. "We were in touch with IIT (Delhi & Guwahati), the National Innovative Foundation (Ahmedabad) and the Nimbkar Agriculture Research Institute (Phaltan, Maharashtra) to develop a new prototype of cycle-rickshaw, which could be converted into a modern mode of transport.

The project not only aims at making life better for rickshaw pullers, but also making rickshaw a marketing engine and to convert a pathetic travel into joy ride.

Labels: Bihar, Cycle Rickshaw Project- Samman, Grassroot Innovation, Irfan Alam, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments

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