Linking observations into design of good social development systems

Today during the conversations with Uday, few insights surfaced

  1. The art and literature shapes the thinking of child to have his ‘Rule book’ for deciding ‘right or wrong’ in his/her life.
  2. Art and Literature is expressed in the form stories and pictures/ sculptures of god he/she gets exposed to.
  3. Theatre and Sports are the platforms for child to express and experiment.

Now my mind is working on How to link these observations into design of good social development systems.

Question to this Forum are

  1. What are villages within india or outside india where Art, literature, Theatre, Music are structured tools for social development?
  2. What are villages within india or outside where Sports has helped in self reliant communities?
    We want to collect such models to integrate in Mission Samriddhi Summit to be held in Chennai from 8th to 10th February.
February 1, 2024

Reshared SRM’s post announcing starting of new Design Thinking course for all first year students

Reshared: SRM has introduced Design Thinking course for all first year students. A major breakthru in curriculum where ‘Design The Thinking’ based on unmukt is becoming the foundation stone for understanding the Technology and Engineering better.

Congratulations to all faculty who spent enough time in learning the new pedagogy at School of Design Thinking under the leadership of Dr. Anbu Rathinavel.

July 1, 2023

Learning a new word Sludge

I learnt a new word today – “Sludge” in context of human thinking.

My observations

  1. What is quantity of sludge in policy implementation even if policies are beneficial to the individual?
  2. What are the sludge in new Agritech innovation and its adoption?
  3. What are the Sludge in connecting to last point in the chain? Does sludge increase as we come closer to Last point?
  4. Any value in terms of ‘Sludge Audit’.
December 10, 2022

HOCO Holistic and Collective Farming

HOCO – Holistic and Collective Farming to design to generate 6 to 8 times farmer income.

5 problems addressed thru 100 acre collective land pooling

  1. Land fragmentation
  2. Water systems with large capacities
  3. Multi crop ecosystem design
  4. Completely chemical free
  5. Farmer gets fortnightly salary

design #farming #water #hoco #schooldesignthinking

November 6, 2022

Agri Day out at HOCO farming by Mission Samriddhi and Intellect ESG at Shiratoki village

Today we spent the ‘Agri Day out’ at HOCO farming by Mission Samriddhi and Intellect ESG at Shiratoki village.

A wonderful picnic and deep learning on agriculture from Professor Hemant Singh Chouhan.

Mystery on Companion crops, science of bacteria’s using multiple organic fertilisers and pesticides.

Zero chemical fertilisers and zero chemical pesticides. All organic material produced by tribals.

Typically it costs 10,000 rupees per acre of chemical fertilisers like urea and various pesticides. For 109 acres, the HOCO saved over 11 lacs of input costs.

We learnt that few companion plants acts as pest control to other plant because they attract specific birds which eats pests.

We were fortunate to get deep knowledge in natural farmin

November 6, 2022

Poem on self love by Charlie Chaplin

This morning, one of my friends sent this poem to me. It narrates the experiential definitions of simple and yet it is difficult to understand. These words are by Charlie Chaplin when he was 70.
As I began to love myself
I found that anguish and emotional suffering
are only warning signs that I was living
against my own truth.
Today, I know, this is Authenticity.

As I began to love myself
I understood how much it can offend somebody
if I try to force my desires on this person,
even though I knew the time was not right
and the person was not ready for it,
and even though this person was me.
Today I call this Respect.

As I began to love myself
I stopped craving for a different life,
and I could see that everything
that surrounded me
was inviting me to grow.
Today I call this Maturity.

As I began to love myself
I understood that at any circumstance,
I am in the right place at the right time,
and everything happens at the exactly right moment.
So I could be calm.
Today I call this Self-Confidence.

As I began to love myself
I quit stealing my own time,
and I stopped designing huge projects
for the future.
Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness,
things I love to do and that make my heart cheer,
and I do them in my own way
and in my own rhythm.
Today I call this Simplicity.

As I began to love myself
I freed myself of anything
that is no good for my health –
food, people, things, situations,
and everything that drew me down
and away from myself.
At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism.
Today I know it is Love of Oneself.

As I began to love myself
I quit trying to always be right,
and ever since
I was wrong less of the time.
Today I discovered that is Modesty.

As I began to love myself
I refused to go on living in the past
and worrying about the future.
Now, I only live for the moment,
where everything is happening.
Today I live each day,
day by day,
and I call it Fulfilment.

As I began to love myself
I recognized
that my mind can disturb me
and it can make me sick.
But as I connected it to my heart,
my mind became a valuable ally.
Today I call this connection Wisdom of the Heart.
We no longer need to fear arguments,
confrontations or any kind of problems
with ourselves or others.

Even stars collide,
and out of their crashing, new worlds are born.
Today I know: This is Life!

#love #wisdom #maturity #respect

April 12, 2022

‘Guilty Minds’ on Prime video and video games

I watched the 2nd episode of ‘Guilty Minds’ on Prime Video.

It raised 2 key dilemmas or issues of this decade
A. Impact of gaming on youth
B. Effect of Bitcoin

Such games are getting into an addiction zone. It has equal or higher impact on a human’s brain than drugs. They show a young 19-year old boy committing murder under the name of a ‘challenge’ in a gaming scenario.

The challenge has reward money of 100,000 USD to be paid through Bitcoin – no account, no traceability. Parents or no one will not know anything.

Some questions:
1. Why are video game ads allowed when alcohol ads are banned?
2. The role of crypto currency as ‘hawala’ money? What is the purpose of its existence? What is the economic impact created by it?

#cryptocurrency #gaming #videogames

April 12, 2022

15 Educationalists and Teachers before 1200AD

A couple of weeks ago I catalogued 15 Educationalists and Teachers before 1200AD and encouraged my network to add more to the list.

I was overwhelmed with the responses I got and truly appreciate each one of you for taking the time to add to my list. 

India is blessed with rich wisdom and knowledge since ancient times. It has a rich tradition of Intellectual heritage and its contribution has gone a long way to enhance the lifestyle of mankind. They are visible in the field of mathematics, arthashastra, formulae of medicine, vibrant art, literature and the list goes on.

Here is the list which is classified in 3 Groups (Group 1 – BC, Group 2 – 1 AD to 600 AD and Group 3 – 600 AD onwards) which is a testimony to us being blessed with rich wisdom and knowledge since ancient times.

#educationinindia #indiaeducation #wisdom

December 12, 2021

15 Educationists and teachers of India before 1200 AD

We have recorded the history of kings. I was searching for the history of Educationists/Teachers in India but could not find one. I collected a list of 15 names before 1200 AD.
1. Valmiki – 4th BC to 7th Century BC
2. Sushruta – 6th Century BC
3. Mahavira – 5th Century BC
4. Buddha – 5th Century BC
5. Chanakya – 375 BC to 283 BC
6. Uma swami – 2nd Century AD
7. Kalidas – 4th Century AD
8. Aryabhata – 476 to 550 AD, Bihar
9. Varaha Mihira – 505 to 587, Astrologer in Ujjain, Brihat Samhita – Trigonometry
10. Brahmagupta – Mathematician – 598 to 668, Gujarat
11. Bhaskara I – 600 to 680 AD, Saurashtra in Gujarat
12. Shankaracharya – 700 to 750 AD
13. Aryabhata II – 920 to 1000 AD, Geometry and Maha Siddhanta
14. Ramanujam – 1017 to 1137 AD
15. Bhaskara II – 1114 to 1185 AD, Maharashtra Ujjain Observatory, Calculus predates Newton

I need more names to complete this list. Please do suggest.

#teachers #india #education

November 12, 2021

True Leadership

As we are celebrating Intellect Fest, a month-long celebration of our people, potential, passion, products, technologies and markets at Intellect, I have found myself wondering what the meaning of True Leadership is, and the following is an excerpt from my diary, on the purpose of a True Leadership Mind.
 
Each part of the body has a purpose; our legs are for mobility, eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, nose for smelling, lungs for breathing, heart for energy distribution, kidney for blood clean up, and liver for energy storage etc. But, what is the purpose of the mind? 

It has many functions, but if we need to define the function of the human mind in less than 5 words, then it would be – to solve a problem. Our mind works as a problem solver, that solves problems one after the other with agility, from simple problems like what to eat, to problems that concern larger populations. 

I realised that whenever Manju shared her problems with me, my mind was quick to suggest an immediate solution to the problem. Her purpose of sharing the problem was just to make me aware of what her mind was occupied with, but I would constantly perceive it as an opportunity to help her. With genuine care and intentions, this behaviour of giving unsolicited advice quite simply led to undesired conflicts.

I was watching the series ‘The Crown’, and I liked one of the Queen’s statements, where she said “Doing nothing is most difficult for an executive”. Our minds are hardwired to provide solutions 24*7, so trying to not come up with a solution when faced with a problem is not always easy. 
 
In the journey of self-discovery and awareness, the key message is to stop thoughts, observe thoughts or spend time in shunya. Are these not similar to saying stop problem solving?
 
In the context of management, true leadership is about enabling teams to solve their problems. The problem that leaders must solve is to spot and choose the right problems for their teams to solve.

#IntellectFest #DesignMind #Leadership #IncredibleIntellect

August 12, 2021