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this podcast is brought to you by India
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India imagine was the theme of the 2008
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Wharton India Economic Forum that was
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held in Philadelphia recently the
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day-long event attracted several leaders
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including APJ Abdul Kalam former
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President of India as well as CEOs of
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Indian companies nonprofit groups
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consulting and private equity firms
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Indian knowledge at Wharton brings you
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one-on-one conversations with these
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leaders we're speaking today with Ravi
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kuchi machi who is the founder of the
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Association for India's development
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otherwise known as aid
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Ravi thanks very much for joining us
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thank you can you tell us about the
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genesis of Aid and how its it's grown
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over the years since you found it in
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1991 I was a graduate student at
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university of milan in 91 and I
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basically thought that it'll be good to
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have some kind of channels where the
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Indian community in the US could relate
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to the real India you know rather than
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only relating to the Bollywood India or
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to the markets in India but also to the
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rural India where about 70 or 60 to 70
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percent of India lives and so that was
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the idea with which you know I sent out
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an email that led to the starting of
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this group association for India's
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development essentially it channel
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eise's the energy and interests of the
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non-resident Indian community both
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students and professionals and seeks
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them to learn as well as participate in
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issues that connect with rural India
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they help out both by raising funds as
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well as by giving knowledge inputs and
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by you know volunteering when both their
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time in the US as well as in India and
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so you started out as one organization
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now have 50 50 chapters yeah yeah so so
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the organization started College Park
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but after three years of its sustaining
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in the University of Maryland
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it started spreading to other University
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campuses like in Pittsburgh and
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Princeton and so on
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and over time we had about 40 chapters
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in the US and it also smalls chapters
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also sprouted in Australia in UK and and
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so that's how it grew and the other
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thing was that it moved from a student
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organization to include also
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professionals and the general inner a
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community so right now our mix is about
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40% students in our chapters and about
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60% are working you know people right
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now now ironically it was a Bollywood
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film called Swadesh right directed that
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told the told your story and in fact it
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was based on a project in which you
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provided electricity to the tribal
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village of bill gown what what to what
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do you attribute the success of that
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project that the film was based on so
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the context of that project is that it's
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situated in the Nirmala valley and the
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nom de Ville is very famous for this
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struggle against its last dam the Sardar
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Sarovar dam which is displacing about
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two lakh people just by its reservoir
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alone
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mr. World Bank had begun by funding it
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the World Bank now has recognized the
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problems with the project and had agreed
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that the project is faulty and it has
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withdrawn but it is continuing with the
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with efforts of the Indian government
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now so it is in that context that we
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thought it was a very good idea
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to set up an example of an alternate
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energy where where electricity is
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generated based on village resources and
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can light up that village so in the case
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of these large dense what happens is the
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energy of the water is stabbed and then
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it's fed to larger cities in India and
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those villages which are being displaced
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themselves do not get any electricity
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from that project so so they do not
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develop locally and that is one contrast
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you know we also wanted to show so this
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was a project we collaborated with a
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group called people school of energy
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which kind of provided the technical
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help to the project and and the nomina
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Bachao Andolan which is the people
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movement which was raising the struggle
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in our group and so the achievement of
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the project was that it was done
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entirely by ashram Don which is
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essentially the volunteer labor from the
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people and it tapped the energy of a
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waterfall so there's about a nine or ten
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meter waterfall in that village it's a
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beautiful waterfall so we diverted part
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of that water and and that dropped these
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ten meters and then turn the turbine
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which produces electricity so do you
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find that each each these projects
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require sort of a unique and innovative
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solution I mean you there's certainly
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lots of villages that aren't next to
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waterfall so you probably had to find
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other other methods for generating
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energy that's true so this is very
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applicable in tribal areas or in hilly
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areas actually it doesn't have to be a
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waterfall but if there is a source of
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water the hill naturally provides a
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contour for the water or for it to drop
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so you can make it drop in a pipe even
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by taking it some distance and then
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making it drop where the hill is steeper
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so you don't really need a waterfall but
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you need a source of water and you need
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ups and downs so that the water can be
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made to fall and that is there in many
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Hills you know and and and so it has the
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micro hydro projects of this kind have
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have a wide-ranging applicability and
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the Indian government is also investing
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money through its nan through its
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renewable energy you know ministry to
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look at you know some of these ideas so
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the other kind of things that we are
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doing in this sector right now is this
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hay box you know that I wanted to show
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you so this is also something which you
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know you can just see this box now this
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is a bamboo box it's entirely made in a
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village by a local artisan who gets paid
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about a dollar you know for making this
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whole thing and then it is stuffed with
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straw now straw hay is a good insulator
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of hit and this entirely line both the
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cap and and and inside so if you put
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anything hot inside this box it remains
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out for eight hours so so it's like a
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hot box
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you know for rural
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for four villages in India the other
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thing that it does is that it helps in
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cooking things like rice potatoes and
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pulses and so on you boil the thing and
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instead of continuing to cook on the
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fire
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you put the boiling rice inside this and
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close it because the hay retains the
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heat in the heat in that heat the rice
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continues to cook and it finishes
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cooking here so you save about 60% of
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the fuel by using this and so you save
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on greenhouse gases and for a village
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person it since the fuel like the cost
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of fuel or the cost it takes for a
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village women to collect firewood a
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typical village woman in India spends
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about two hours every day or every two
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days collecting the firewood for her
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family to burn and this saves time on
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that and it says cooking time as well so
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this is one thing that we are promoting
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right it makes perfect sense that it
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would work and it seems so simple but
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tell us a little bit about how you came
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up with this this thought that this
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would work yeah I see one of the things
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that I'm excited about this is that it's
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made in a village and sold in a village
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because we call away if we sell it at 70
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rupees which a village person can afford
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there are very few technologies now a
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village can make things for the global
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market you know that's one of the
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current things that you know countries
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like China for example be good at doing
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that but this is made and sold in
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villages so I like that
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I came up cross this idea on the
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internet basically I was looking for an
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efficient device to retain heat like hey
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I knew was a good insulator so I was
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looking for option for for solar heating
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systems so through solar thermal I mean
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through reflectors you can heat water up
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but then to keep the water hot you have
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to put it in some insulating vessel
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which which can be lined with hey it's a
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very low-cost insulator so I was doing a
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search on that for the internet in on
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the internet and and came across this
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idea of hey box and apparently the
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United Kingdom used hey boxes during
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world war as a way to reduce fuel
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consumption in the country so they had
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used it during World War and so it's a
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known technology what I realized was
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that it has a very good application in
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India
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so immediately we tried to make it
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locally and then we started giving it as
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actually selling it to two village
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people and one of the fascinating things
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that this does to them is that it also
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keeps food hot for eight hours it not
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only helps in cooking but you keep
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something hot the right stays hot for
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eight hours in this they don't have
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microwave ovens you know to heat up
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things and this is something that they
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are very excited about because they can
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get hot food any time of the day you
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know very simple but effective very
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effective yeah yeah fascinating do you
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see
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obviously your your organization has
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grown over time through the
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participation of of non-resident Indians
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do you see that trend continuing and
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what do you think is driving it yes so
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in the u.s. I think it's a passion you
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know people are actually interested both
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Indians and you know makin sells so like
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for example we have potential Fulbright
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Scholar who is from the US gerrae who is
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probably going to be visiting and stay
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up working with us in India for about
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eight months so what drives these young
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people whether they are Americans or
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Indians is it's kind of a passion to
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change you know and to make the world a
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better place for everybody know this
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somehow there seems to be so much
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iniquity in the world today that there's
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a large fraction of the world that basic
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resources are not reaching them and and
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there's a lot of exploitation in the
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world you know a lot of these people
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have remained poor because their rights
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have been trampled historically as well
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as continue to be even today you know
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trampled and and and somehow you know
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the youth of today wants to you know
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play a role in changing that and so you
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see you see it as a generational thing
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specifically both yeah both as a
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generational thing and maybe also
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because of the internet that has also
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really helped aid it has given an easier
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way for us to communicate and reach out
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to each other
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it's a cost-effective way right like
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previously like today leadership can
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come from anywhere in a decentralized
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manner through the internet it can get
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you know you
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you can make your thoughts hurt so so so
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I think there's also a part of that you
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know that's helping now let's talk a
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little bit about some of the new
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initiatives that you're focusing on as
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well you are keeping an eye on I think
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the the the Right to Information Act and
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the National Rural Employment Guarantee
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acts that were passed in the country why
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why are you stepping up your interest in
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those areas because they fundamentally
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RTI Act has to be fun new has
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fundamentally got to do with democracy
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and like the Freedom of Information Act
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you know in the u.s. now there's a lot
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of corruption in India and the
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government's accountability to the
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people is something that we need to work
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on as I was talking today at the
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conference the feedback you know from
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the people to the government or to the
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industry even from the poor people is
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something which is neglected and without
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a feedback cycle example I was giving
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was like for example the difference
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between simple and compound interest in
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compound interest the interest is fed
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back into the capital and generates more
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capital and so with time a simple
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interest is a linear growth it grows
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very slowly the fun in a simple interest
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account but in a compound interest a
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convict time it grows exponentially it
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was very fast
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and so it's very important for voices of
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the people to be heard by the government
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and people cannot give the voices if
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they do not know what the government is
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doing and right Information Act
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essentially allows people to question to
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ask government questions and which they
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have to answer in a timely manner so and
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it also helps fight corruption through
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this feedback you know so so we have so
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that's why we're interested and there
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are examples where if people have not
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gotten passports or ration cards today
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they can file an RTI application and ask
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what is the status of their application
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what is the status of other people who
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have plied on the same way what is the
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name of the government officer who is
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supposed to clear that but hasn't done
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so far and instead of asking all these
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questions oftentimes their work gets
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done they see here's your attrition card
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or here is your passport right so do you
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see your organization moving more
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direction of of influencing policy in
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the future as opposed to infinity I
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think it has moved both in the past and
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it's also continuing to go in that
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trajectory both influencing policy as
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well as implementation of good laws like
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the NRA G is an example the Employment
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Guarantee Act because our government is
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spending over five billion dollars every
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year of taxpayer money in providing 100
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days employment guaranteeing hundred
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days employment to every rural family in
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India and so of course it's not at all
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the family actually works and is paid a
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minimum wage but they find the work and
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they have to give this work to the
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people now what we find is that there
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are some areas in India some states and
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some districts where 70% of this money
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is being is being just take it's not
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reaching the end user you know the
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internet personal works but it's being
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siphoned off there are some states and
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some regions where it's actually working
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very well so and this is something which
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came in 2005 so it's only two years six
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and seven other two years it's been
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implemented so far and and what our
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organization is very keenly interested
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in doing is this new legislature that
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comes in in India to also ensure its
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effective implementation to give
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feedback to the government to kind of
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take it to the administrative officials
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locally as well as to the state
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representatives the corruption that or
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the faults we find in the implementation
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of energy Act or the RTI Act and then go
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to courts if necessary and ensure that
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an accountable process of implementing
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this progressive legislature happens so
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that we actually not only end up with
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good laws but also good implementation
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of those laws where India likes the u.s.
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quite a bit I feel in the u.s. I think
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it doesn't much better job of
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implementing its laws but but in India
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the laws are very progressive the
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implementation is like and what are you
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and what do you see is the sort of the
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largest hurdles on the horizon for
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organizations like yours from some of
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the biggest challenges I think one of
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the biggest challenges is you know a lot
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of solutions or a lot of work seems to
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be custom-made
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it's there is no one there's no one one
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effective thing that addresses in X
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diverse country like India there is no
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one magic van that you can wave to solve
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these things so so so it requires people
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who kind of a Mook are committed who
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spend time there is a learning curve for
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new people who get involved in these
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kind of things you know either as a pro
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has chosen fields of their pursuit or as
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volunteers you know there is a learning
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curve that they have to go so to be
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effective and it requires staying power
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you know they have to stay and I think
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that has been one of the that just be
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not only of our organizations a bit for
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the the human tapping human potential
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making it stick you not at all these
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problems to understand their
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complexities and then you know people
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find what they can do about that
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Ravi thanks very much for speaking with
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us today thank you for more information
00:16:32
please visit knowledge Wharton UPenn dot
00:16:35
edu slash India
