With it's main focus on the reality and challenges in Rural India today, the Rural Transformation Track will highlight some of the initiatives already on ground and making an impact at the micro level to make a positive difference.

The sessions will try to define how PanIIT can provide a forum

View a 5 minute video covering all aspects of the Rural Transformation track

to inspire and engage more IIT alumni in transforming the more than 6 lakh villages, where 70% of India lives. There will be 3 sessions. Each session will have 6 or 7 speakers (20 mins) and many speakers will use short 4 minute videos to show their efforts to transform the villages or region of India.

Pictures from this track

Sessions and Speakers

"Pongal" in-December!!!

Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated throughout Tamil Nadu and the southern states with great gusto and pomp, normally in the middle of January. But thanks to two local NGOs - ECOMWEL and DHAN Foundation - we will enjoy the magic of Pongal during the Pan IIT meet. Celebrate Pongal at the Rural track • Come, celebrate Pongal under a shady tree • Enjoy music, dance and village festivities • See displays of village demographics and current projects And... • Taste the fresh sweet Pongal prepared on the spot WHEN: December 19th 2008 - 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM December 20th 2008 - 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM WHERE: Just outside Kendra Vidyala - venue of the Rural Transformation Track. Women decorate the ground with colorful designs. This is called 'kolam' in Tamil

1 Day Tour of Village Projects on 22nd December, 2008

A 1-day tour of village projects within driving distance from Chennai is being organized by the Rural Transformation Track. Participants interested in joining the tour must sign-up and pay an additional fee of Rs.1000 per person (covering bus, lunch and water). Speakers and Panelists on this Track should also register by paying the fee.

Padapai Farm

We have constructed 5 different tours on that date.

•	Kuthambakkam village
•	Natham village
•	Pulliarkuppam in Puducherry (Pondicherry)
•	Auroville in Puducherry
•	Ulundhai farms

You can read more about these 5 tours and indicate your First and Second choice at the time of registration.

Proposals for Exhibition

The Rural Transformation Track invites proposals and ideas to exhibit working models of projects in the Exhibition Stalls during the conference.

Models of successful and field tested projects and services used in villages can be exhibited. A few examples are,

Exhibits must portray actual application and can be accompanied by short videos - to make the exhibits more effective.

Session I: Inspire: Learn from success stories from the field
Session II: Innovate: What breakthrough ideas will catalyze and transform rural India?
Session III : Transform - how IITs, IITians and PanIIT can help transform rural development

Session I: Inspire: Learn from success stories from the field RT01

Theme: Rural Transformation is a holistic process. Water, Food, Energy, Health, Technology, Agriculture and Education all play a key role in reducing rural poverty. A balanced approach will lead to success. The opening session in this track will highlight success in these areas. Venue: Kendra Vidyalaya Grounds (next to IC&SR bldg) IIT Madras Time: Friday, Dec 19th, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. More Info: Available here! Chair Person Ms. R. V. Bhavani M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai. Bhavani, an IITB alumnus works as Director, Food Security at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, overseeing research on food security issues for policy advocacy and field level action projects like community grain banks for food and nutrition security. She is also currently coordinating an initiative to empower women farmers in the farmer suicide affected region of Vidarbha. Speakers: Ashok Khosla Chairman of the Development Alternatives Group, Delhi. Technology in India's Future Innovation and Technology have been used for Millennia to divide he rich from the poor, the powerful from the weak. India must now show that there is another way, more fair and just where everyone can benefit from the fruits of science and live decent lives. Harish Hande Founder, SELCO Solar Light (P) Ltd. Linkages between Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Energy There is a strong connection between poverty reduction and sustainable energy especially in the context of India's poor. In today growth, the poor are being left behind and there are concrete models and examples to show that sustainable energy can provide opportunities of livelihoods for the urban and rural poor. R. Madhavan Padapai Farms, IITM alumni. IITM Engineer - turned - farmer The core of the strategies for producing plentiful, affordable and nutritious food revolves around significant improvement in crop yield per acre through adoption of currently available crop production technologies. Vibha Gupta Dr. Vibha Gupta IITD alumnus is Chairperson, Magan Sangrahalaya Samiti, Wardha, a national Museum of Rural Technology started by Mahatma Gandhi in 1938. MSS is presently working in 120 villages of Wardha District of Maharashtra, especially in terms of watershed harvesting and rural enterprises. Through Watershed Management and Development project water is brought to ten arid villages by recharging their groundwater aquifer and rejuvenating the natural resource base through implementation of appropriate rainwater harvesting technologies. Now, there is water in every home and every field, whereas previously there was none. Narayan Hegde PRESIDENT BAIF, PUNE (Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation). Dairy Husbandry for providing Sustainable Livelihood to Rural Poor: Success Story of BAIF BAIF Development Research Foundation is engaged in helping small farmers to earn their livelihood while conserving the natural resources through appropriate technologies. Among various activities, promotion of dairy husbandry through up-gradation of non-descript cattle and buffaloes is the major programme spread over 46,000 villages benefiting 3 million BPL families in 12 states. Popatrao Pawar Village Sarpanch, Hiware Bazar, Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra. There are 54 millionaires in this village. Can you name another similar village- In 8 short years, Popatrao has transformed his village of 180 families. He will say that watershed projects and 'pani panchayat' were the building blocks. Now World Bank has included a visit to this village as a must for their staff.

Top

Session II: Innovate: What breakthrough ideas will catalyze and transform rural India? RT02

Theme: Across the multiple fields in rural India (ranging from healthcare, water, farm productivity, livelihoods and entrepreneurship) catalytic innovations are the need of the hour. This session will showcase path breaking 'innovations' to the conference participants that will dramatically increase the scale and impact of rural 'inspirations'. Participants will leave the session with greater awareness of the impact possible across multiple areas and be incited to make their contributions in a few close to their heart sectors. Venue: Kendra Vidyalaya Grounds (next to IC&SR bldg) IIT Madras Time: Saturday, Dec 20th, 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m. More Info: Available here! Chair Person Ms. Svati Bhogle Chief Executive, TIDE, Bangalore. Svati, an IITB alumnus, heads TIDE. Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE) is a not for profit organization devoted to sustainable development through technological interventions. We envisage development as a process that meets the needs of the neediest, is in harmony with the environment, permits grass root participation, uses local resources and builds local capacity. Speakers: Aruna Roy Author of "Right to Information Act". Information is power. When our rural communities are kept in the dark, they cannot claim what is rightfully their's. In liberal democracies as in dictatorships, people are routinely denied access to basic information that ought to be in the public domain. In India, the fight to guarantee the right to was taken up by illiterate villagers in the state of Rajasthan. When the government cheated them of wages they were owed for work done during a famine in the mid-1990s, their anger and their determination to hold the government accountable sparked a Right to Information (RTI) movement that spread across the country, finally reaching such proportions that the Indian Parliament was forced to enact a Freedom of Information Act. Vasimalai Executive Director - Dhan Foundation, Madurai. Mentoring development professionals to reduce poverty levels A Model of mentoring professionals to enable two to three thousand poor households to reduce poverty substantially within three to five years has been evolved by DHAN Foundation on different themes including water and microfinance. Om Bagaria Navdarshanam Trust, Dharmapuri. Is there a better way to live? A group of 3 IIT alumni have built a small community that is self sufficient for its water, food and energy needs. This is great model for today's urban mess that we are in. Trilochan Sastry Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Our democracy is in ruins The real impact making work we have done is on electoral reforms. It is all India, it has made - even if I say so - a huge impact. The Supreme Court, the Election Commission, parliamentary standing committee on electoral reforms, the top political leaders of our country, the medai, and of course the grassroots NGOs and public have started respnding positively. M. Ravindran RuTag - Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Even a remote tribal village can be transformed A doctor couple (supported by a small team of engineers and some more doctors), have transformed around 80,000 tribals of a remote forest village in the Dharmapuri district of Tamilnadu. A W Date and the CTARA team CTARA - Center for Technological Applications for Rural Areas Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Can an IIT really help our rural areas? CTARA is setting an example to all IIT's with its pioneering work in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, with its agricultural and watershed projects. IIT's Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) planned to construct small dams in some of these hamlets. The first sites selected were Belachiwadi and Gudwanwadi. CTARA team led by Head, CTARA, Prof. A.W. Date and Prof. Milind Sohoni (CSE), undertook to monitor logistics, funding and all technical aspects. They partnered with the NGO, Academy of Development Sciences (ADS), Kashele, which took the responsibility for social mobilisation, local support and execution.

Top

Session III: Transform - how IITs, IITians and PanIIT can help transform rural development RT03

Theme: You have always wondered - how one person -'you' - can make a difference in this world? As an IIT alumnus, you worked hard and earned a decent career. But your journey is incomplete, if you do not help 'our brothers and sisters' who are struggling everyday to escape from extreme poverty. We have assembled a number of IIT alumni who have done it. Come listen to them. If they can do it, you can too. Venue: Kendra Vidyalaya Grounds (next to IC&SR bldg) IIT Madras Time: Saturday, Dec 20th, 2:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. More Info: Available here! Chair Person Ram Krishnan IITM alumnus -Akash Ganga Trust - Rainwater Harvesting volunteer / Rajiv Lochan (alternate). Ram Krishnan is a 1967 B.Tech graduate from IIT Madras. He lives in Minnesota but commutes to his village-cluster project in Vilathikulam in Tamil Nadu. The Bharathiyar Community Center coming up in Vilathikulam will be self-sufficient for its water, food and energy needs. The Community Center will showcase sustainability and self-sufficiency to around 250 villages in the Northern half of Tuticorin District. Speakers: Prof M.S. Swaminathan Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation. Science and Food Security in an Era of Climate Change It is now well accepted in the scientific world that anthropogenic pressures are leading to adverse changes in temperature, precipitation and sea-level. Food and fuel are likely to be the two major areas of concern under conditions of global warming. India has a population of nearly 1.2 billion and strategies will be outlined on how to ensure food security under potential adverse changes in agro-climatic conditions. Arvind Kejriwal Parivarthan - Right To Information. Arvind uses a 2001 law called the Right to Information Act (RTIA) to bring political power back to the people of India. The law began in Delhi, and has since spread to eight other states, opening opportunities for citizens to hold their governments accountable to high standards of transparency and integrity. Through his organization Parivartan, Arvind raises awareness of the Act and trains citizen groups to use the law to check corruption. He leverages a growing volume of success stories to demonstrate that direct engagement in local government can make a real difference in people's lives. Ashok Kalbag Vigyan Ashram, Pabal, Maharashtra. Education thru Development & Development thru Education • "Learning by Doing" - Hands on training brings all senses into the learning process and stimulates the mind for assimilation of the lesson • "Earn while you Learn" - Provides entrepreneurship skills while providing revenue while learning Vijay Mahajan Group CEO of BASIX, Mumbai. As of September, 2008, the BASIX Group works with over a million and a half customers, over 90% being rural poor households and about 10%, urban slum dwellers. BASIX works in 15 states and over 10,000 villages. It has a staff of over 3500, of which 80 percent are based in small towns and villages. Svati Bhogle Chief Executive - TIDE, Bangalore. Transformation in the lives of a group of women engaged in an energy linked livelihood project of TIDE. Parasparadevi group is a neighborhood support group of women belonging to the fishing community of Kerala. The group was engaged in sun drying fish on the beach near Thrissur. They associated with TIDE in an innovative experiment to use biomass dryers to dry fish and prawns. The group is now managing a flourishing enterprise in branding and marketing biomass dried fish in supermarkets, trade fairs and exhibitions. Four more groups are engaged in replicating the early work of these pioneering women. Prof. P. V. Indiresan Past Director of IIT Madras, an architect of PURA. PURA - A Program for Minimizing Rural-Urban Disparity Rural areas are denuded of financial and human capital because their markets are too small to support many services. PURA remedies this defect by creating a common market for a cluster of villages with a combined population of 30-50 thousand. Unlike Growth Poles, which too create a common market but at one single location, PURA distributes them around a group of villages. That way prosperity spreads all round. Ravi Chopra People's Science Institute, Dehra Doon. Empowering A Million Poor Watershed development in Choe-Chakrala (Himachal Pradesh) has helped several rural communities to develop and manage their own water supply systems, replacing unreliable government supplies. Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in the poverty-stricken KBK districts of western Orissa has enabled hundreds of villages to plan and implement their own development programmes using government funds. People's Science Institute, Dehra Doon is scaling up such proven innovations to empower a million people between 2006 and 2015. Ashok Vardhan Shetty Secretary- Rural Development, Government of Tamil Nadu. K Ashok Vardhan Shetty, IAS is the Principal Secretary to Government, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department since 18.5.2006. The Directorate of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (including the Training wing), the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women Limited and the Tsunami Project Implementation Unit come under this Department. These units are all headed by IAS officers. This Department also provides administrative support to the State Election Commission.

Top