Anil Kumar Gupta is a globally renowned scholar in the area of grassroots innovations. He is the founder of the Honey Bee Network and has been a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Besides, he holds the Executive Vice Chair of the National Innovation Foundation. He is also a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. He was awarded the Padma Shri in the year 2004, one of the highest civilian awards in India, for his contributions to management education.
Video Anil Kumar Gupta
Education
Post finishing his Bachelors (Hons) in Agriculture, he went on to complete his MSc (Biochemical Genetics) from Haryana Agricultural University in 1974. In 1986, he earned a PhD in Management from Kurukshetra University.
Maps Anil Kumar Gupta
Research and interests
His interests include ensuring recognition, respect and reward for grassroots inventors and innovators at a local, national and global level and protection of their Intellectual Property rights. Amalgamation of formal and informal science, ethical issues in conservation and prosperity of biodiversity are some of his other research interests. Every summer and winter, in order to learn from grassroots teachers, he has been walking around 6000 km across India for over a week as part of Shodh Yatra for more than twelve years. In fact, Shodh Yatra, which is a second year course, is one of the most popular courses taught in IIM Ahmedabad. Through the Honey Bee Network, he has demonstrated the pivotal role of innovative ideas and knowledge, possessed by economically poor people, in the sustainable progress of developing countries.
Professional experience
Dr. Gupta has been a professor in Centre for Management in Agriculture, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad since 1981. Various positions held by him in IIM-A include Chairperson of Research and Publications, Chairperson of Ravi J Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation and Kasturbhai Lalbhai Chair in Entrepreneurship.
Besides, he is the Executive Vice Chair of National Innovation Foundation and founder of the Honey Bee Network. He is also the Co-ordinator of SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiative for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions). He was a speaker at TEDIndia in November,2009. Since 2011, he is an advisor on issues pertaining to innovation, environment, and sustainability to Fair Observer, an online magazine covering global issues.
Grassroots Innovation
Dr. Gupta wrote the book 'Grassroots Innovation: Minds on the Margin are not Marginal Minds' in 2016. Published by Penguin Books India, the book is a compilation of his empirical research, carried out through the Shodh Yatras, on ingenious solutions and innovations crafted by common individuals, targeting local problems faced by local communities.
He emphasises on the need for being open to the tremendous wisdom that is in the grassroots and also acknowledging it - through documentation and/or sharing commercial benefits. Documentation, he says, also helps the best practices of one area reach out to other area, just like a honeybee, which takes the nectar from flower but helps the flower by spreading its pollen far and wide. That's how India's the first formal project to document the wisdom of grassroots came was named Honey Bee Network. Many organisations then came in the wake of HBN's work, namely, the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI), the Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN), and finally the National Innovation Foundation (NIF).
Grassroots Innovation explores the wisdom and creativity of communities and individuals across the country, and their journeys towards addressing various social challenges against all odds. Through these stories, it makes a case for niche-specific solutions and puts forth the argument that sidelining them for larger, scalable solutions would ultimately sideline a lot of communities which are often on the fringes of mainstream society. The need of the hour, then, is to get such ideas and solutions sufficient traction, and mold our mindset, institutions and polity to not only accommodate, but also celebrate the ingenuity and originality of the many innovations solving problems and improving lives across the country.
Awards and Honours
References
External links
- IIM Ahmedabad]
- Presentation page on Indian Institute of Management
- Interview with Anil Gupta on Grassroots Innovation in India
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments