COVER STORY

The genius on the

shopfloor
The innovative spirit is not bound by geography or hierarchy.
Companies need to find ways to harness this and power their
way forward

aving walked for about 5000

kilometres during summer,
winter and autumn, in different
parts of the country over the last 11
years, I am convinced of the
pervasiveness of the creative spirit in
India at all levels, among all sectors and
sections of society, particularly among
disadvantaged people. In Shodhyatras
(an annual journey through rural India
to discover innovative projects and
products), conducted by non
governmental organisation SRISTI
(Society for Research and Initiatives for
Sustainable Technologies and
Institutions) under the aegis of the
National Innovation Foundation, we have
been surprised over and over by the
ingenuity of people outside the
framework of organised educational
systems. They are able to develop
solutions that are easily replicable and yet
unique without any of the amenities that
we in the urban centres have come to
take as given.
This is impressive, no doubt, but I must
clarify that the spirit of enquiry, the faith
in the creative potential of common
people and the ability to learn from
unprivileged minds need not be

30 QUEST FEBRUARY 2009

restricted to the informal sector. In fact,

if unschooled minds can be so creative,
then workers and supervisors in the
manufacturing sector can and should be
even more creative. Perhaps many of
them already are, but companies are
unaware of the contribution of their
people on the shopfloor. This is the
learning that I have gathered from the
Shodhyatras and through my dealings
with the corporate world.
Currently Shodhyatras are organised
twice a year during extreme summers
and winters, where people walk an
average of 20-22 km per day covering
120-170 km over a period of 6-8 days.
The teams conducting the yatras have
come across innumerable instances of
innovation. Villagers apply traditional
knowledge, handed down the
generations, to simplify their lives and
those of others. Not only do they do so in
an innovative fashion, their work goes a
long way towards the conservation of biodiversity and nature in general.
Over the years, the yatras have helped
unveil these projects and thereby
provided innovators with a platform to
demonstrate their work. It will be

extremely useful if we can carry this

concept through and replicate this
process in the corporate sector. It
would help companies uncover hidden
talent and facilitate the setting up of
an innovation pipeline.
The Shodhyatra is premised on
several assumptions. For one, many
innovators and traditional knowledge
holders do not know that their
knowledge matters. They innovate as a
matter of necessity. They do not
document or publicise the innovation.
They willingly share their work and if
ignored, carry on without much
thought or rancour. In some instances,
the innovators are aware of the impact
of their work but do not commercially
exploit their efforts. They share their
innovations freely and are always
willing to help others.
Tapping into local networks
Competitions conducted under the
aegis of the Shodhyatras have helped
uncover local genius across the country.
During one such event, one of the
participants came up with an idea for a
television as a four-sided cubical
structure so that people can sit around
it, look at each other and also the
programmes. Likewise, a lantern with a
music system designed by Ghulam
Mohammad Mir of Kashmir and a chaff
cutter with a pedal-operated clutch
brake by Kamruddin Saifi in Uttar
Pradesh have been the result of such
competitions. Thousands of
innovations, all over the country,
convince us that if we have not
discovered more innovations, the fault
lies not in the people as much as in our
way of looking at their work.

The fact is that we may know a great

deal, but we feel strongly only about a
few things and when it comes to doing
something about those, the list narrows
even further. This keeps us from
innovating as much or as rapidly as those
that devote their time and energies
towards developing unique solutions.
Innovators rise above all hurdles and it
is therefore most fitting that we honour
such people at their doorstep. This
motivates them and drives home the
value of their knowledge to the
community at large.
If knowledge matters, creativity counts,
innovations transform, then incentives
inspire. But, incentives need not be
monetary or individual. SRISTI, the
NGO behind the Shodhyatras, has never
given a monetary award except to
children and yet, it has built a grassroots
innovation movement.
The key learning here is that innovators
are not driven by rewards alone. They are
natural problem solvers and are
motivated by recognition from their
peers and colleagues.
Parallels in the corporate world
In almost every company, I draw a
blank when I ask whether there is
a file or a register or a
database of local innovations.
If innovations really matter,
why should cataloguing
them be so difficult? Is it that in
most hierarchical organisations,
wisdom is believed to flow from the
top and hence whatever does not
flow from top management, does
not matter?

QUEST FEBRUARY 2009 31

COVER STORY

The essence of the future

Bappi Roy lives in a nondescript

residential enclave known as Basudha
complex in a village in the Bankura
district of West Bengal. He has spent
most of his life in this remote village,
far from the rapid pace of modernity
and growth that has engulfed urban
India. During the last Shodhyatra,
Roy stunned everybody by coming
up with a concept that has the
power to revolutionise television
viewing in India.
Roys felt that since Indians like to
sit around a fire or meet in circles,
they should be able to watch
television the same way. His idea
was to create a square television
monitor that could beam
programmes in every direction. It
won a prize from the Shodhyatra
team and has evoked great
enthusiasm in the corporate world.
In yet another example of
ingenuity, Paras Nath, a student
of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,
Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh worried
about how to convert noise into
energy at busy thoroughfares.
Paras Nath came up with an
idea of a sensitive
membrane; the concept is
being taken forward by
various agencies in
coordination with SRISTI
and Shodhyatra team
members. The group is
working together to create
a system that can
channelise the noise
energy into areas of daily life.

32 QUEST FEBRUARY 2009

The Shodhyatras have helped

uncover innumerable new ideas and
paved the way for these to become
innovative solutions. They have
shown that innovation can take place
outside the confines of the formal
sector; all it needs is a push at the
right time.
The journey began in March 1998
when during Shodh Sankal (a meeting
of innovative farmers organised by
SRISTI), it was felt by the organising
team that innovators in rural India
often live in oblivion and their work,
although significant, rarely ever finds
use in the rest of the country. Soon
after this conference, a workshop on
a knowledge network for innovative
farmers was organised in
Ahmedabad, where discussions
veered around the same topic. A
farmer who was attending the
workshop, Gafarbhai, suggested
starting a Shodhyatra which would
help bring to light such innovations.
He proposed that the walk begin from
Talaal, his village situated on the
outskirts of the Gir lion sanctuary.

There has been no looking back

since. Shodhyatras are organised
twice a year, through rural India, in
search of innovative farmers,
enterprising women, creative
students and others.
People walk an average of 20-22 km
per day covering 120-170 km over a
period of 6-8 days during the yatras.
The objective is to reach the remote
corners of the country. The
Shodhyatra is based on the belief
that the hardship and challenges
faced by people in these areas
motivate innovative thinking. The
focus is also on seeking out people
who care about nature, explore
creative ways of solving local
problems, save energy and foster a
spirit of sharing by letting others
know about their innovations and
traditional knowledge.
It is a journey of mutual learning, and
sharing of knowledge. During the
yatras, the team shares
knowledge and
practices gathered
over the years.
This is then
integrated into the
Honey Bee
database which is a
large and diverse network
of innovators.
SRISTI, National Innovation
Foundation and Honey Bee Network
volunteers help organise the
Shodhyatras, in collaboration with
regional partners. A route is identified

many months prior to the event and

then a small group spreads out
scouting for innovators, outstanding
traditional knowledge holders and
such others. The innovations and
applications of traditional knowledge
are documented and the outstanding
cases felicitated during the yatra. The
response to the programme has been
tremendous as people have flocked to
the events and demonstrated their
skills with great enthusiasm.
In most cases, not only are the
innovators oblivious to the impact of
their innovations, they are also denied
their due benefits. For instance,
Khobragade, an underprivileged
farmer from Naghbhid, Chandrapur,
who owned just three acres of land,
developed several paddy varieties,
one of which, HMT, diffused over
100,000 acres in five states. There is
no other recorded instance of a
farmer developed variety diffusing so
widely. Yet Khobragade remains poor.
Mansukh Prajapati from Gujarat made
a clay tawa (hot plate) and lined it
with azo noble liquid to make a
non- stick pan that sold at Rs
40. A worker in BEST,
Mumbai, has developed a cycle
with a detachable wheel so
that workers can travel
easily in remote areas.
These examples are
life-changing
innovations. The products are being
developed by the poor, for the poor,
and carry a wealth of possibilities for
the entire world.

QUEST FEBRUARY 2009 33

COVER STORY

DID YOU KNOW

The ice cream

cone is nothing
but a rolled up
waffle cone.
Way back in
1904, an
enterprising ice
cream vendor
ran out of dishes
and asked a
waffle seller,
standing beside
him, to help out
with a cone.

Unfortunately, this is the way most

companies function. Innovation can
never thrive in such an environment.
Several years ago, a large company had
invited me for a programme on
intellectual property but failed to
provide any record of past innovations.
When I sought additional information,
they sent a retired employee to IIM
Ahmedabad, who spoke about a series
of innovative processes that had been
devised by people down the hierarchical
structure. However he did not recollect
having rewarded or recorded the
achievements of the innovators.
The fact is that if a company
consistently outperforms its
competitors, it is doing so due to
innovative practices adopted by its
employees. Unless they are recognised,
employee motivation will dim and no
company can afford to let that happen.
Also, it is important to know that an
innovation by a worker on the shopfloor
will not show a trained engineer or
supervisor in a bad light. It will,
instead, bolster the supervisors
influence within the company.
Innovate to succeed
In order to ensure that innovations are
not lost in the hierarchical jumble of
organisations, it is important to create an

environment that nurtures innovation. It

is as importat as the innovation itself.
Some time back, a correspondent of the
New Scientist magazine asked whether I
had any innovations to my credit. Apart
from a small modification in my chair to
make my lower back rest better and a few
laboratory innovations, I couldnt think of
any. However, I take pride in the fact that
I have helped build platforms that
encourage innovation.
Companies must do the same. They
need to treat ideas with patience and
foresight to convert them into innovative
practices and products. They also need
to institutionalise a reward and
recognition programme that honours
innovators within the organisation.
It is also important to set up systems that
will enable and perpetuate processes that
facilitate learning from within, from
peers, from common people and from
nature. Ideas flourish when they are
allowed to migrate freely between these
four sources of innovation.
This is the reason I take my students to
the Himalayas as a part of the
Shodhyatra course. It helps them learn
from nature. This is also the reason
scores of people walk in search of
creative and knowledgeable people. By
recognising them, we are really
recognising the spirit of India.
Companies can adopt similar tactics on
the lines of the above principle to
embrace the true spirit of innovation.
Anil Gupta
About the Author
Anil Gupta teaches at IIM Ahmedabad
and is executive vice chairman of the
National Innovation Foundation

34 QUEST FEBRUARY 2009