Gandhian Engineering - India's greatest gift of the 21st Century says-
Padma Vibhushan R.A Mashelker at 1st M.L. Mehta Memorial Oration
Former Director General CSIR shared insights on 'Reinventing India as an Innovation Nation'
11th December, 2015, Jaipur: The M.L Mehta Memorial Foundation and HCM RIPA, Jaipur known to propagate ideas, ideals and initiatives propounded by Late Shri M.L. Mehta through lectures, seminars and publications, organized the 1st M.L. Mehta Memorial Oration. The Seminar -cum- conference saw Padma Vibhushan Professor R.A. Mashelkar, Former Director General, CSIR, New Delhi; share his insights on the subject, 'Reinventing India as an Innovation Nation'. The Seminar's key highlights were principles of Gandian Engineering on affordability and sustainability with the key messaging on 'Getting More (performance) from Less (resources) for More (people) 'MLM'.
Padma Vibhushan, Prof. R.A. Mashelkar said, "The M.L Mehta Memorial Foundation & HCM, Jaipur was emerged with the need of promoting rural development with the prime focus on development in all segments that would help in generating more resources at an affordable cost and for more people. The M.L. Mehta Foundation has always promoted entrepreneurial initiatives, ground level capabilities and establishing support services with a particular regard to the needs of the rural and urban poor. Shri M.L. Mehta's initials are MLM. I saw the message, philosophy and meaning of his life in these initials; MLM is getting 'more from less for more people', more precisely for more poor people. Interestingly MLM, with this specific meaning has become a big global innovation movement around the world today. MLM innovation forces us to measure opportunity by the ends of innovation-what people actually get to enjoy-as opposed to just an increase in their means."
Prof. R.A Mashelkar added, "MLM is the essence of Gandhian Engineering primarily based on principles such as affordability' and 'sustainability' which emphasizes on benefit of all - not for just a few but for more and more people. The MLM philosophy also works in tandem with the philosophy of many industrial enterprises, where they strive for getting more (performance) from less (resource) for more (people). In case of Gandian Principles it is not just for more (profit). MLM innovation is any innovation that leads to affordable access of quality goods and services creating livelihood opportunities for the excluded population, primarily at the base of the economic pyramid, and on a long term sustainable basis with a significant outreach. The objective of a MLM innovation would not be just to produce low performance, cheap knock-off versions of rich country technologies so that they can be marketed to poor people. That is getting `less for less'. MLM innovation gets `more from less'. This will mean that we will have to harness truly sophisticated science or technology or truly creative non-technological innovation to invent, design, produce and distribute quality goods and services that are affordable for the majority of the people. I am proud to say that such 'extreme affordability' targets have been achieved by Indian's in India"
Padma Vibhushan Prof. R.A Mashelkar also stated various strategies through examples and innovations that have been innovated by Indian's and people world over to achieve the MLM goals through. The strategies discussed were 'Product Innovations' i.e producing low cost product designs through no-frills strategies, example Nano car. 'Manufacturing process innovations' i.e inclusive manufacturing of high quality product but manufactured at an affordable cost based on low energy utilization. The other strategies are, 'Business model innovation' low cost product innovations that are beneficial for all, such as M-PESA. 'System delivery innovation' creating successful system deliveries by incorporating the services of multiple stakeholders both public and private, example Medical Emergency Services which brings together the discipline of emergency medicine, with the disciplines of call centers, IT and operations research. 'Workflow innovation' perfecting operation techniques and assembly lines to increase productivity but at an affordable cost and beneficial to the maximum population, example- Aravind Eye Care in India for low cost cataract surgery in which, instead of increasing the number of surgeons, ways to increase a surgeon's productivity were found by perfecting an assembly line technique of surgery that increased productivity by a factor of ten. Grassroot innovation' i.e innovating products and services that are effectively understood and utilized by the people at the bottom of the pyramid example rural washing machine that can work without electricity because it is pedal driven.
He also states that the MLM business provides great opportunities. First, firms can benefit from seeking alternatives to high-cost traditional innovative processes, which are based on the principle of 'More from More'. Second, they benefit from innovating over constraint-induced hurdles, rather than avoiding those challenges by lowering product quality or changing the target market. Third, the mindset matters: accomplishing these tasks requires a special attitude that relentlessly pushes 'More from Less'. Professor R.A Mashelkar dedicated the MLM philosophy, message and the soul of MLM to Shri M.L. Mehta.
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