San Diego Zoo

College has infinitely changed my perception of how the world works, how much wealthy societies hold themselves above everything else in this world -- whether this means poverty-stricken areas, animals, and the health of this planet. I am so lucky to have access to the amount of information I do and, yet, I marvel at how many of my peers and fellow citizens don't realize it and the extent to which we exploit and abuse (whether deliberately or inadvertently) the world around us.

I paid a visit to the San Diego Zoo this past weekend, a fairly normal tourist exercise. The weather was fantastic (summer is here!!) and I've never been to Balboa Park before. It was really awesome to see such a huge piece of land dedicated to providing greenspace to visitors and city-dwellers as well as the education of people in many different areas (eg, museum of natural history, aeronautics, botannical garden, cars).

Back to the Zoo. As we walked around "visiting" the wildlife, I felt a growing sense of unease. Of course this was largely due to the zoo-like environment, whereby children were running around screaming and parents were attempting to run after them (designer strollers and all), but it was mostly because I simply couldn't enjoy the Zoo in the same way I did, even 5 or 6 years ago. (I was arguably an "adult" 5 or 6 years ago ;) )

I had the natural queasiness (as I've always had, but have typically been able to ignore) of seeing wild animals in confinement. They were cute and furry and scaley and feathery, just as I had remembered them to be. But there was something so strange about seeing them in this state here and now.

It hit me. The Zoo wasn't REALLY trying to promote animal protection in the wild or conservation, which has always justified caging a few them but exploit them instead. Zoos should raise money for a "greater" cause and the few poor things trapped in there would be martyrs to this cause. Instead, the Zoo was committing a grave betrayal - capitalizating on their existence at every turn, in such a gross and unrestrained fashion.

Firstly, there was a horde of visitors. It doesn't really matter how "used to it" animals are to being gawked at - it must be agitating to have people waving their arms at you and yelling, especially so many of them at once! There were crowds around every exhibit and if the animal didn't "perform" it was antagonized by the children and their families alike. Regulating the visitors a little more would have been the most compassionate and the easiest move to make, even if it meant slowly down the dollars a little.

Secondly, the Zoo was hypocritically wasteful. There were recycle bins but the Zoo spent way more time and attention to designing these monstrous plastic souvenir cups, encouraging visitors towards these products. Some of the foodstands had biodegradable forks and sppons, yet everything else was made of styrofoam. There was an glass display about recyclable plastics and yet almost all of the benches in the Zoo were not recycled plastic. It was horrific and pitiful.

How could I go to a Zoo and not learn a single thing about conversation - either from a global standpoint and from a personal one? How could there not be a single push for "compassionate technology" for the environment? How could there be no emphasis on how the average joe could take some responsibility for his environment?

Southern California is hot and sunny; what about solar panels to relieve some of the power demands?

Southern California is hot and sunny and DRY; what about water conservation? Encouraging visitors to not buy bottled sodas and water? What about transforming that slushy cup into something that is more practical and resuable? What about bathrooms with low-flow?

America is obsese and unhealthy; what about offering visitors a food option that isn't about ravaging the environment or injected with preservatives and hormones?

These aren't economically unfeasible options. They might detract from profit a little bit, but will save money and energy in the future. Plus, it's also just a nice thing to do to not over-stimulate the animals (and people!!) and not make us fat and unhealthy at the same time.

Unfortunately, like many things in this world and particularly America, the Zoo is just another business. It's just particularly upsetting when it occurs at such a severe degree at a place that espouses preservation and loving animals and protection. And unnerving when it occurs at a place that pretends to nurture the endangered.

The first thing we can do doesn't even have to be based in technology, it's simply to be informed and observant of the things going on around us. Change occurs in small steps, of course, and being aware is the first step to mobilizing for a greater action. The Zoo is just one place among so many that can alter its practices and set a good example. It's hard to ask people to switch up their entire lives, but there's always small "sacrifices" that can eventually be a thoughtless, automatic and seamless incorporation. Awareness is clutch and while being a discerning individual can be hard, it's certainly a choice that many of us can make.

Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)

Well this is my first post on this blog. Amarjeet started this blog and this idea intrigued me as well so i got motivated to contribute as well...
Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI), is an NGO based in Maharashtra, founded by a group of scientists and social workers in 1996. The mission of the organisation is to serve as an instrument of sustainable rural development through the application of scientific and technological knowledge. The organization had been involved in several projects many of which have culminated into successful technologies for rural areas. They have fifty projects in areas like Bamboo technologies, rural energy technologies, Nursery technology, Agri Horticulture Technology. They have nearly 25 standardised and field-tested technologies to offer to rural entrepreneurs through their Rural Entrepreneurship Development Centre (REDC).

Their primary ongoing project is Commercialisation of Improved Biomass Fuels and Cooking Devices in India. With a vision to create sustainable rural enterprises based on clean biomass fuels and cooking systems, this project aims to reach out to rural households all over Maharashtra. The project is sponsored by Shell Foundation, UK. According to world health report 2002 indoor air pollution is responsible for 2.7% of the global burden of disease. The project is a step towards solving such a problem by developing and disseminating biofueled clean cooking devices that form a practical and cheap solution for rural households. Current project is an extension of a pilot project run by ARTI from January 2003 to December 2005. According to the website - "At the end of the project period, there were 120 active rural enterprises spread over the state, and during August 2004 to December 2005, these enterprises had collectively sold clean biomass energy cooking products to about 75,000 rural families in Maharashtra." They had established a private limited company, Samuchit Enviro-Tech Pvt. Ltd. (SET) to drive the commercialization of this biogas plant through several NGOs, rural entrepreneurs and Self Help Groups (SHGs) and reach out to about 15,00,000 rural households in Maharashtra and around 50,000 rural households in Gujarat.

The Biogas plant uses only about 1 kg of any sugary or starchy material (such as leftover food, kitchen waste, nonedible rhizomes, seeds, etc) as daily feedstock, to give a regular supply of gas sufficient enough for domestic cooking for around 2 hours. Just 2 kg of such feedstock produces about 500 g of methane, and the reaction is completed with 24 hours. The conventional biogas systems, using cattle dung, sewerage, etc. use about 40 kg feedstock to produce the same quantity of methane, and require about 40 days to complete the reaction. Thus, from the point of view of conversion of feedstock into methane, the system developed by ARTI is 20 times as efficient as the conventional system, and from the point of view of reaction time, it is 40 times as efficient. Thus, overall, the new system is 800 times as efficient as the conventional biogas system. The biogas plant is set up using locally available plastic tanks (used for water storage), and can be installed even in urban homes with limited space.

In addition they are also working towards commercialization of the charring kilns for manufacturing charcoal briquettes, portable steam cooker operated with charcoal and a metallic gasifier stove. An interesting initiative was taken by Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL) wherein they invested in a charcoaling kiln and a briquetting machine and ARTI provided the technical knowhow. The leaf litter and woody waste generated on the IPCL campus was used as the raw material to produce more than 900 kgs of charcoal in less than 1.5 months which was then bought over by ARTI at Rs 15/kg. I wanted to get some data about how exactly the end user goes about maintaining it, but am digging out that information (will add post it when I know about it). Look at the below picture to figure out how does it look like.

The guy that you see in this picture is A D Karve. He is a PhD in Botany and he has won numerous awards and currently is the president of ARTI. In addition to that he is also director for numerous organizations related to village development and sustainable technology. The biogas plant was primarily his brainchild.

This Bio Gas plant also won ARTI the prestigious Asden award. You can read more about it here.

--
Goli

Policy issues in Pharma manufacturing

I dont claim to have thorough understanding about policy issues related to Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing but i just thought of sharing some interesting findings. It all started with the blog about LoCost. Last sunday (6/17), as part of AID-LA, we organized a talk by Dr. Anant Phadke. During our pre-talk discussion, I got to know that he is one of the Board of Directors of Locost and was highly appreciative of them. He brought up the issue of increasing difficulties that arise after the patent bill was passed by Indian legislature that brought India into compliance with the WTO's Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). I did some basic study about this act and whatever little findings i got, were interesting enough to post a short blog.
India became TRIPS compliant from January 1, 2005. Recent controversy between Novartis and Indian government over the grant of patent for its Leukaemia drug, Glivec has spurred huge controversy. The case is still under trial under Madras High Court. Novartis has also issued an open letter clearing its stand on the issue. Without delving into the issue and taking any stand, I would just like to mention that the bureaucracy, combined with such laws may hinder availability of basic drugs for poor and marginalized people not just in india but in other developing (and under developed) countries. Interestingly, the only reason that big pharma companies give in support of the patent act is the huge spending that goes into the research and development of these drugs. One look into the recent report by US Government Accountability Office, and you will realize the truth. As per the report:
"Although the pharmaceutical industry reported substantial increases in annual research and development costs, the number of New Drug Applications (NDAs) submitted to, and approved by, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not been commensurate with these investments. From 1993 through 2004, industry reported annual inflation-adjusted research and development expenses steadily increased from nearly $16 billion to nearly $40 billion—a 147 percent increase. In contrast, the number of NDAs submitted annually to FDA increased at a slower rate— 38 percent over this period. Similarly, the number of NDAs submitted to FDA for NMEs increased by only 7 percent over this period. FDA approved most NDA applications—76 percent overall, but the numbers of NDAs and NDAs for New Molecular Entities (NMEs) it approved annually have generally been declining since 1996. "
Another interesting thing is that UN recognizes 50 countries in the category of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). These countries are exempted from abiding by TRIPS until 2016. Bangladesh and Myanmar, two of India's neighbours are in that category. Gonoshasthaya Pharmaceuticals Limited (GPL) is a company in Bangladesh committed to providing low cost medicines for poor people (similar to LoCost). I got to know from Dr. Anant that talks are in the process between the two for possible collaboration.

Locost (Low Cost Standard Therapeutics)

When it comes to healthcare there has to be innovative technologies that are able to provide cheap and quality medicine that is affordable for masses. One such company that strives for this goal is Locost. It is a public, non-profit charitable trust registered in Baroda, India. It was founded in 1983 and with their small scale factory make more than 60 essential and quality drugs in lowest possible prices. What comes as a distinctive feature is their focus on medical education along with drug manufacturing. Educating the prescriber and the patient through several publications and training goes a long way beyond what is possible by just manufacturing cheap yet good quality drugs. Their website shows the effort that they had put in to understand and improve healthcare environment in India. Another distinctive feature that i found interesting was the stress on "Being Clean". In spite of operating in critical healthcare industry where one objection by a corrupt person in authority can delay the progress of the company, they strive to keep away from corruption and adhere to ethos of voluntary organization. They also list Karuna Trust as one of their Depot address on the website. As part of AID-LA, we had some close relationships with Karuna Trust who have succesfully deomonstrated public private partnership in healthcare in Karnataka and Arunachal Pradesh. I also contacted them personally and got the following facts about Locost:
They have a total strength of about 25 people; sell medicines worth about Rs 2.5 crores and grow about 20-25 percent everyyear. They serve about 300 NGOs from Nagalan to Kanyakumari literally and some of their customers include CMC Vellore, Christian Fellowship Hospital Oddanchatram, the ANT Bongaigon, SEWA Rural Jhagadia Gujarat, Jan Swasthya Sahyog, etc.
One of their person is currently in US. I am planning to meet him sometime soon and hope to learn more about them which i will then update here.

engINdia

The purpose of this post is to showcase an effort by a few students to put together some small technical projects that can provide affordable technology.

As the website says - engINdia is an online resource for student engineers. On this site you will find numerous projects and challenges that face people in rural India. It all started of as a collaboration between 6 students from the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB). They had a six week expedition to Pabal village in Maharashtra (India) where they had several discussions with the local community trying to understand the problems they are facing. The result of these discussions was a list of projects aimed towards providing affordable solutions to the everyday problems faced by these villagers. These are projects on diverse subjects such as drinking water, waste management, energy, education etc. For each project, they try to answer how will the local community use the proposed solution, its economic benefits, its relation to the local environment and available resources that can possibly be used for the solution. I dont know the current status as to how many of these projects are currently undertaken and what is the benefit they had provided to the local community. In words of one of the members of the expedition community - Pooja Wagh (taken from her article here) - "Perhaps the most important lesson that I took away from Pabal was that the people there are not ignorant villagers waiting for engineers from MIT to come and help them solve their problems. They are people who think logically about the inefficiencies in their lives, brainstorm innovative, practical solutions, and apply very effective technologies to increase their productivity."

What is compassionate technology

Being in the midst of technological advancements while doing Phd, it has become my dream to develop technologies that could help uplift the standards of living of people who fall below the average, especially those who are close to the bottom. This is my first attempt in that direction - to compile applications and technologies developed with a purpose of helping the underprivileged. The focus will be on technologies that have been shown to be helpful for the masses or the ideas that have been generated based on personal experiences (of like minded people) and field visits. This may include making things affordable for underprivileged or developing products that could help them in their profession to make the best use of their efforts. I call it the "compassionate technology". I will try to put together things that i get to know through personal contacts, experiences and web surfing. The primary objectives will be:

1. To spread awareness about existing efforts: To stimulate discussions on how they served their purpose or the ways in which they can be further improved.
2. To bring together a community of like minded people who want to get into "Social Entrepreneurship" and to motivate others to join in too!
3. To generate new ideas catered towards specific requirements in a region.

If you would like to contribute to this blog or share any such technology that you would like me to post here, please feel free to contact me.