Anil K. Gupta
Co-ordinator, SRISTI and Honey Bee Network,
and , Executive Vice Chair, National Innovation Foundation .
Telephone: 91-79-26324927 (O).
Secretary: 91-79-26324930
Fax: 91-79-26306896, 26307341.
email:
anilg@iimahd.ernet.in, anilg@sristi.org
website:
http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/~anilg/
http://www.sristi.org
http://www.gian.org
http://www.nifindia.org
http://www.indiainnovates.com
Ph.D., Management, M.Sc.(Genetics), B.Sc.(Hons), Agri.
Research and Action Interests:
Expanding global, national and local space for grassroots inventors and innovators to ensure recognition, respect and reward for them; blending excellence in formal and informal science; protection of their Intellectual Property Rights; ethical issues in conservation and prospecting of biodiversity; setting up incubators to link innovations, investments and enterprise; voluntarism, leadership for social change; socio-political transformation towards a meritocratic society; creating Knowledge Network at different levels for augmenting grassroots green innovations and build a global value chain to get the creativity its due; support to Honey Bee Network including about twenty three thousand innovations and examples of traditional knowledge from various parts of the country and rest of the world on farm and non farm sustainable technologies, energy saving and herbal aid to human, animal and plant health and special focus on women innovators.
Mission is to demonstrate the potential of knowledge rich economically poor people in taking developing societies out of the morass of mediocrity and lead these on to a path of sustainable progress.
Helped set up the National Micro Venture Innovation Fund, the first of its kind in the world at NIF with the support o SIDBI on October 1, 2003 through a collaboration between SIDBI and NIF as per the announcement by Finance Minister in Union Budget 2002 in response to our request.
Helped establish NIF (National Innovation Foundation, India) (March 2000) with an initial corpus of Rs.20 crores (USD five million) with a view to help India become an inventive and creative society and a global leader in sustainable technologies by scouting and sustaining grassroots innovations. Union Finance Minister of India announced this fund in his Budget speech for 1999 in response to our work to develop a national register of innovations, help link informal and formal science, convert innovations into products through linkage with investment and enterprise, help set up incubators etc. NIF has Dr.R.A.Mashelkar, Secretary, DSIR and Director General CSIR, as its Chairperson and Prof.Anil K Gupta as its Executive Vice Chairperson apart from fourteen members on its Board from diversified fields, including Director General, ICAR and Secretary, DARE, Director, IIMA, Secretaries, Finance, Expenditure, Science and Technology, Enforcement Director, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Gujarat, leading private sector industrialist Mr Anand Mahindra, eminent Gandhian women NGO leader Ela Ben, Prof. Kuldeep Mathur, etc.
National Project Director for a GEF (Global Environment Facility) and UNDP supported PDF B project on Conservation of Biodiversity in Dry Lands in North Gujarat sanctioned to Ministry of Environment and Forestry, designed and implemented by SRISTI, to develop a larger project for conservation of faunal and floral biodiversity in two sanctuaries and agro-biodiversity in farms with in and outside protected areas (completed in 2001 and approved by GEF council without any revision).
Set up GIAN (Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network) Society and Trust (1997) to scale up grassroots innovations and convert these into viable products or services with appropriate benefit sharing arrangements, with a corpus of Rs 50 lacs in collaboration with Gujarat Government as a consequence of International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at Grassroots, January 11‑14, 1997 organised at IIMA. Helping establish four more GIANs in different parts of the country with funds allocation from NIF and already set up two, for North-East at IIT-G and for north India at Jaipur.
Convinced by the necessity of the NIF, Commonwealth
Secretariat had sought Prof. Gupta’s help in establishing similar NIFs in all
the Commonwealth countries. In response
to their request, Prof. Gupta did performance review of Commonwealth Science
Council (CSC),
Commonwealth Ministerial gathering and arranged to showcase outstanding
grassroots innovations at the exhibition in
2002. CSC has also decided to adopt
Honey Bee Network as a model to identify, document and disseminate innovations
at grassroots. In addition an MOU has
been finalised among CSIR, NIF, SRISTI from
and for technology transfer from grassroots in
there.
Worked on a three year Pew Award of US $150,000 (1993 1996) for Biodiversity Conservation and Environment granted by Pew Scholars program at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to ten outstanding scholars around the world. This award has been used to strengthen Honey Bee network- a global network of activists, scholars, policy makers and farmers around the issue of indigenous technological and institutional innovations for sustainable natural resource management, and building bridges between formal and informal science.
Positions:
Kasturbhai Lalbhai Chair in Entrepreneurship, IIM AExecutive Vice Chair, National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad
President, SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Insti¬tutions) and Editor, Honey Bee, a quarterly newsletter on indigenous innovations
Chairperson, Ravi J Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation, Indian Institute of Manage¬ment, 1993 1994
Chairperson, Research and Publications, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 1990 92
Professor, Centre for Management in Agriculture, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 1981 to present.
Adviser (Farming Systems Research), Bangladesh Agri. Research Council & Bangladesh Agri. Research Institute, October 1985 to November 1986.
Management Specialist (Rural Development), Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, Action Research Project on District Project Planning in six drought prone districts of the country, 1978 1981.
Farm Representative/Agri. Finance Officer, Syndicate Bank a nationalised commercial bank 1974 1978.
Kasturbhai Lalbhai Chair in Entrepreneurship, IIM A
Executive Vice Chair, National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad
President, SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Insti¬tutions) and Editor, Honey Bee, a quarterly newsletter on indigenous innovations
Chairperson, Ravi J Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation, Indian Institute of Manage¬ment, 1993 1994
Chairperson, Research and Publications, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 1990 92
Professor, Centre for Management in Agriculture, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 1981 to present.
Adviser (Farming Systems Research), Bangladesh Agri. Research Council & Bangladesh Agri. Research Institute, October 1985 to November 1986.
Management Specialist (Rural Development), Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, Action Research Project on District Project Planning in six drought prone districts of the country, 1978 1981.
Farm Representative/Agri. Finance Officer, Syndicate Bank a nationalised commercial bank 1974 1978.
• Recipient of Bharat Asmita Acharya Shrestha National Award 2006 in recognition as the Best Management Teacher
• Awarded distinguished the Indian National Science Academy- B.D.Tilak Memorial Lecture on science and society, 2005
• Padma Shri National Award given by the Hon’ble President of India on the eve of Republic Day 26 January 2004 for distinguished achievements in the field of management education
• Joint recipient of Science-in-Society Award instituted by The Indian Science Congress Association. The award was given on 3rd January 2004 by the Hon’ble Minister of HRD at the 91st Session of the Indian Science Congress held in Chandigargh.
• Adjudged as one of the fifty most influential people in the field of intellectual property rights around the world in 2003, Managing Intellectual Property (July-August 2003 , Issue 131).
• Kasturbhai Lalbhai Chair in Entrepreneurship at IIMA
for a period of six years from 2002 to 2008.
• Fellow, The World Academy of Art and Science, California, 2001
• Adjudged as one of the Star Personalities of Asia among the fifty leaders at the forefront of change by Business Week, New York.- Business Week, Asian Edition, July 2, 2001, www.businessweekasia.com
• BBC gave a wide coverage of activities being carried out by SRISTI and Honey Bee Network in support of grassroots innovators and telecast a film on our work viz., ‘Patently Obvious’ and broadcast the same in the month of June 2001, also a world Radio broadcast a program on grassroots innovators in June 2001 and again on March 23, 2002 in Business Today program. Latest on Honey Bee network was on Jan 11, 2006 in the same program ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4603108.stm).
• Nominated for World Technology Award, (Environment) 2001 UK, and currently member of jury for these awards
• Nominated for Stockholm Challenge Award, 2000
• Received Asian Innovation Award Gold from Far Eastern Economic Review (Oct 26, 2000) for coordinating SRISTI and Honey Bee Network www.feer.com and served as judge for the same and Asian Young Inventors award in 2001,
• The Economist, London reviewed the work of SRISTI and Honey Bee Network in a special article on Innovation and Intellectual Property, June 2001; invited by International Herald Tribune to write a special article on Riches of Poor (International Herald Tribune, October 11, 2001, sustsci.harvard.edu/ists/TWAS_0202/gupta_111001.pdf )
• Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Pew Conservation Scholar, 1993 96; Best Teacher Award in IIMA by students (1982, 1985) and by Association of Indian Management Schools, (1996). Teach Shodh Yatra, a second year course, which is second most popular course at IIMA for last four years.
Hon’ble President Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam graced the third national award function organized by NIF at IIMA on January 5, 2005 and gave away the awards to the outstanding grassroots innovators. He had given the awards at second Award function also.
In June 2002, the Commonwealth Science Council adopted the goals of the NIF, India, and the Honey Bee Network, as the direction of its future mission. The Commonwealth Science Council decided to become a Common Wealth Innovation Network ( though the move did not go very far due to aid politics).
NIF, chaired by Dr. R. A. Mashelkar, Director General, CSIR was set up in March 2000 by the DST with a corpus Rs. 20 crores, essentially in response to the work being carried out for the last 13 years by the voluntary members of the Honey Bee Network.
As a consequence of NIF mobilising more than 13,000 innovations and traditional knowledge examples in 2001, as against only 1600 practices in 2000, the Finance Minister of India announced in his budget speech of 2002 the setting up of a National Micro Venture Fund. The Honey Bee Network, supported by IIMA, SRISTI, SEWA, SIDBI, PEDES and many other voluntary institutions and individuals, mobilised more than 51,000 innovations and traditional knowledge examples from over 455 districts of India over the period of a decade. NIF has set up three incubators, the first of their kind, to convert innovations into enterprises, known as GIAN. The first GIAN was set up in 1997 in Gujarat and the other two have been set up in Jaipur and in the North East at IIT Guwahati.
NIF has facilitated the filing of patents through pro bono help in India as well as in USA on behalf of innovators, and in one case has even licensed the technology to a US company, with the entire money going to the innovator.
There is only one purpose in Professor Gupta’s life and that is to make India innovative and generate a new model of poverty alleviation and employment generation relying on innovation based enterprises, which can be replicated in other developing countries as well.
Dr. Gupta earned his Ph.D. degree in management from Kurukshetra University (India) in 1986 after his masters in Biochemical Genetics in 1974 from Haryana Agricultural University, Haryana. He is currently a professor in the Centre for Management in Agriculture. His unique work analysing indigenous knowledge of farmers and pastoralists and building bridges to science based knowledge has led to the honour of being elected at a young age to India’s National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and recognition through Pew Conservation Scholar Award of USD 150,000, 1993 96 from University Of Michigan. Biodiversity conservation through documentation, value addition and dissemination of local peoples’ innovative resource conservation practices is the thrust in future work. His desire to develop a platform to recognise, respect and reward local innovators was the stimulus behind the creation of the Honey Bee network. The name Honey Bee was chosen to reflect how innovations are collected without making the innovators poorer and how connections are created between innovators. Honey Bee network has demonstrated that by building upon a resource in which poor people are rich in, that is their knowledge, a new paradigm of development can be unleashed. To help provide support structures for grass roots innovators and link formal and informal knowledge systems, SRISTI, a global initiative and an NGO, to network local innovators was established in 1993. It provides organisational support to the Honey Bee network in over 70 countries. The key objectives of SRISTI are to strengthen the capacity of grassroots level innovators and inventors engaged in conserving biodiversity to (a) protect their intellectual property rights, (b) experiment to add value to their knowledge, and (c) enrich their cultural and institutional basis of dealing with nature and modern science. National Innovation Foundation was set up by Department of Science and Technology (DST) in 2000 to make India a Global leader in sustainable technologies. Compared to 948 entries in its first national competition, it mobilized more than 13000 entries in second year. Organized an international contest for scouting innovation through IFAD Rome, and three grassroots awardees from three countries were honoured at Global Knowledge Conference held in Malaysia in March 2000. Working towards setting up Global Innovation Foundation so that India becomes a sanctuary or an incubator for green grassroots innovations from all over the world.
Organised the first International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at Grassroots for sustainable natural resource management, January 11 14, 1997 at IIMA cosponsored by various national and international organisations such as World bank, commonwealth foundation and secretariat, NABARD, ICAR, CSIR, SRISTI, FAO/FTPP, etc., attended by grassroots innovators, policy makers, academics etc., from 40 countries. GIAN- a green venture promotion fund was set up as one of the follow up actions. Organised an International Conference On Criteria and Indicators of Sustainability for Rural Development sponsored by UNESCO in Feb., 1999; First National Workshop on Indian Incubator for Innovation Based Enterprises held at IIMA sponsored by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dec 1998; Coordinated two Inventors of India: Knowledge Network for Incubating Innovations into Enterprises workshop in 1998 and 2004 and the third one is scheduled during Sep 6-8, 2006; coordinated an executive training Workshop on Harnessing Intellectual Property for Strategic Competitive Advantage at IIMA during 2001-2005.
Making Indian Agriculture more Knowledge Intensive and Competitive: The Case of Intellectual Property Rights, published in Indian Agriculture in the New Millennium: Changing Perceptions and Development Policy, 2006 (Eds. N.A.Mujumdar and Uma Kapila), p.285 - 327
Harnessing Knowledge Bank to Spur Growth, January 9, 2006, Times of India, Ahmedabad, pp..5.
Necessity is the Mother of Innovations, January 10, 2006, Times of India, Ahmedabad, pp..3.
(With R.A.Mashelkar) Women and Formal and Informal Science, IIMA, published in History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilisation (General Editor: D.P.Chattopadhyaya), 2005, Volume IX Part 3, Women of India: Colonial and Post-colonial Periods (ed. Bharati Ray), New Delhi, Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd., Chapter 10, p. 208 – 235.
We can certainly do better - Post-tsunami disaster management: An agenda for action, The Financial Express, 1st Jan 2005
(With Vikas Chandak) Agricultural Biotechnology in India: Ethics, Business and Politics, presented at the International Workshop on Agricultural biotechnology in the Developing World: Perceptions, Politics and Policies, organized by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich on 12th March 2004, IIMA Working Paper No.2004-07-01, July 2004, International Journal of Biotechnology, 2005, Vol 7 No 1/2/3, 212-225
Environmental Aspects of Social change: Agenda for statistical research, presented at the Workshop on Statistical Science and Environmental Policy: Possible Interactions at Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta 11 – 13 January 2000, published in Sustainable Environments: Ecological, Economic, Socio-cultural and Statistical Aspects (Eds. A.K.Ghosh, J.K.Ghosh, Barun Mukhopadhyay), 2004, ISI, Calcutta, p. 163-181.
Why is Media so Apathetic? Published in VIDURA: Journal of The Press Institute of India, New Delhi, Vol. 40, Issue No. 2 (2003), p. 8-10
Sharing Benefits with the Conservators of Diversity” Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity: A Source Book, CIP-UPWARD, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines, Vol. 3, p. 608 - 613, March 2003
Farmers as Plant Breeders: Three cases from India Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity: A Source Book, CIP-UPWARD, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines, Vol. 2, p. 332-336, March 2003
(With Sanjeev Saxena, Vikas Chandak, Shrabani B.Ghosh, Riya Sinha and Neeru Jain) Costs of Conservation of Agrobiodiversity in India, published in “Efficient Conservation of Crop Genetic Diversity: Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Studies” (Ed. Detlef Virchow), Berlin, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, p. 137 – 174, 2003.
Mobilizing Grassroots’ technological Innovations and Traditional Knowledge, values and institutions: Articulating Social and Ethical Capital, published in the Futures Volume 35, Issue 9, November 2003, Pages 975 – 987
(With Riya Sinha) Contested Domains, Fragmented Spaces: rights, responsibilities and rewards for conserving biodiversity and associated knowledge systems, Presented at International Conference of MAB UNESCO on Biosphere Reserve, IFRI. Dehradun, 22-25, Feb 2001, published in Traditional Ecological Knowledge for Managing Biosphere Reserves in South and Central Asia (Eds., P.S.Ramakrishnan, R.K.Rai, R.P.S.Katwal and S.Mehndiratta), Delhi, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., 2002, p. 161-181.
(With Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya) Contours of collaboration: Coping with disasters through effective inter-organisational networks, talk delivered at the seminar on “Disaster Management and the Armed Forces: A National Effort” on 11th September 2002 at the Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi and published later by the Army Headquarters and Institution of Engineers, New Delhi in their souvenir, p. 61 – 69, 2002
Rights for all, “Managing Intellectual Property”, June 2002, Issue 120, p.34-37
Ethics of Extraction: Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge, published in Protecting Biological Diversity under the title Blending Universal and Local Ethics: Accountability towards Nature, Perfect Strangers and Society (Eds. Catherine Potvin, Margaret Kraenzel and Gilles Seutin) , London, Ithaca, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal & Kingston, p. 129-148, 2001
Sustainability Through Biodiversity: Designing Crucible of Culture, Creativity and Conscience in “Criteria and Indicators of Sustainability in Rural Development: A Natural Resource Perspective.” New Delhi and Calcutta: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co.Pvt.Ltd., 2001, pp. 179 - 226.
Implications of WTO On Indian Agriculture: The Case Of Intellectual Property Rights And Emerging Biosafety Protocol, 1999; IIMA WP No.99-10-06, October 1999, published as a chapter in the book entitled, Implications of WTO Agreements for India Agriculture. Samar K Datta and Satish Y. Deodhar (Eds.). Calcutta and New Delhi, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co.Pvt.Ltd., (2001), Chapter 10; pp.245-307
Grassroots Movements: Introductory Statement, published in Villages in the Future: Crops, Jobs and Livelihood (Eds. Detlef Virchow and Joachim von Braun), New York, Springer-Verlag BerlinHeidelberg, p. 93 – 95, 2001
Rich in ideas: Grassroots creativity, “International Herald Tribune, October 11, 2001
Grassroots Globalisation: An alternative model of globalisation,” Gentleman, (June 2001), pp.47-53
The Honey Bee Network: Creativity, Conservation and Compensation, “entwicklung + landlicher raum, 2, 2001, 28-30.
Creativity Counts, “International Journal of Sustainable Development”, Vol.3.No.1, 2000, pp.95-107.
Creativity Counts, “International Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol.3, No.3, 2000, 297-308
Grassroots Innovations for Survival, “LEISA India, Vol.2, No.2, (July 2000), 20-21
From Sink to Source: The Honey Bee Network documents indigenous knowledge and innovations in India, in innovations / Summer 2006, :www. mitpress.mit.edu/innovations, p. 49 – 66.
Innovations, institutions and involvement: Socio ecological crisis and insurgency in marginal environments, presented at the seminar on Civil Society and Democratic Space in South Asia, in Delhi on 12th January 2006
Transforming Indian villages through innovations, knowledge network and entrepreneurship: Dealing with the bottom of the pyramid or tip of the iceberg, Lecture delivered at the Convention on Transforming Villages into Vibrant and Prosperous Entities-Innovative Strategies, organized by the Lucknow Management Association, Lucknow, on 24th October 2005.
Innovations for making small enterprises competitive: Overtaking China, lecture delivered at the Ludhiana Management Association, organised by Department of Business Management, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, on 19th October 2005
Dialogue on Design, Diversity and Development: Learning from Grassroots Innovators, keynote presentation made at Philips Design Symposium in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, on 20th September 2005
Indigenous knowledge and innovations for managing resources, institutions and technologies sustainably: A case of agriculture, medicinal plants and biotechnology. Paper contributed for presentation at the Seminar on IBSA Seminar on Economic Development and Social Equity, August 2-4, 2005 at Rio, Brazil
Rewarding Conservation of Biological and Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge and Contemporary Grassroots Creativity, Published as WIPO-UNEP study on the role of intellectual property rights in the sharing of benefits arising from the use of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge, 2004
Technological innovations for revitalising small scale and tiny sector: Need for a bold initiative - A note submitted to Finance Minister for budget 2003-04
Value chain augmentation for grassroots innovations making India innovative, note submitted to Finance Minister at the pre budget consultation meeting, January 9, 2002
Rethinking priorities for Science and Technology policy for augmenting grassroots innovations: A pre-budget submission to the Finance Minister, 2001
Rewarding Traditional Knowledge and Contemporary Grassroots Creativity: The Role of Intellectual Property Protection, paper presented at a seminar at Kennedy School, Harvard University, Boston, May 2000
Transforming Developmental Options for Knowledge-rich, Economically-poor people: From Grassroots Innovations to Global Space, paper presented at the UNESCO-ACEID Conference in Bangkok during December 12-15, 2000
Financing tiny and small sector technological innovations: A pre-budget submission to the Finance Minster, 2000
Have papers in International journals like International Review of Administrative Sciences, International Journal of Sustainable Development, Agri. Systems, Capitalism, Nature and Socialism, International Studies in Management and Organisation, Indian Jr. of Social Studies, Indian Jr. of Public Administration, Vikalpa, Studies in History, Biotech¬nology Law Report (USA), Eubios (Japan), Development, Cultural Survival Quarterly, Biotechnology and Law Monitor, Diversity, etc., on Action Research, Social Effects of Rural Projects, Designing Resource Delivery Systems, Right To Resource, Household Economy in Dry regions, Biodiversity Conservation, Ethics of resource extraction, farmers' Innovations, Intellectual property rights of people etc.
Have been requested to carry out a performance review of Commonwealth Knowledge Network of Commonwealth Science Council, UK
Have organised sessions/workshops on indigenous innovation and intellectual property rights in various national and international conferences of natural science societies dealing with Crop Science, Agronomy, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, range management, soil and water conservation, etc.
Have been invited as keynote speaker in scores of international conferences from 1981 to till date, too many to be enumerated but including IAUES anthropological conference, rural sociology, farming systems, common property resource management, IAAE agricultural economics, AIPPI on IPRs, OECD on biodiversity, Range management, ICLARM on aquatic diversity, IFAD and EU on hunger and poverty, Universi¬ties of Arizona, Upsala, Hohenhiem, Boston, Aarhus, Mexico, TWAS, Trieste, in addition universities of Harvard, Duke, Cornell, Indiana, Oxford, etc., have invited for seminars, meetings and presentations.
Participated in the International Conference on Biodiversity in Paris during 27-28 Jan, 2005; the international conference on "Can knowledge be made just?" in Essen, Germany during 21 - 23 March 2005; Meeting of the Advisory Group for the Consortium on S&T for Sustainable Development in Paris from Jan 24-26, 2004; International Workshop on Innovations in the Biosciences in Columbia University, New York during 20 - 21 May, 2004 workshop on Ethics, Globalisation and Hunger: In Search of Appropriate Policies organised by Cornell University in Ithaca during Nov. 17-19, 2004; International Conference on Social Technology during 19 - 20 Nov., 2004 in Sao Paulo; delivered keynote address at the workshop on Innovations in Technology and Government held at the Kennedy School of Government on October 30-31,2003; participated in the International Workshop on Property Rights Collective Action and Local Conservation of Genetic Resources, September 29-October 2, 2003 in Rome, jointly organised by IFPRI, CAPRI and IPGRI; Regional Stakeholders' Workshop on the Thematic Evaluation of Local Knowledge and innovations in the Asia Region in Bangkok on 23 July 2003; Planning Group for the Consortium on S & T for Sustainable Development in Paris during 24-26 July 2003; high level forum on science, technology and innovation in the Commonwealth: Challenges and Opportunities in Johannesburg during 10-11 June 2003; ICT Development Forum during May 20-21, 2003 in Bonn, Germany; International Conference on Biotechnology and Biodiversity in St.Louis during April 4-6, 2003; Expert Workshop on Traditional Knowledge organised by Commission on IPR at Commonwealth Science Council in London (Jan 2002); Taskforce on Technology, Innovation and Society organised by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Feb 2002; International Workshop on Science, Technology and Sustainability: Harnessing Institutional Synergies in Trieste (Feb 2002); Conference on International Patent System in Geneva organised by WIPO (March 2002); Workshop on S&T for Sustainable Development, organised by Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability, International Council for Science and the Third World Academy of Sciences (May 2002); Workshop on Democracy and Global Governance: Challenges for the XXI Century in Port Alegre, Brazil (Jan 2001); Policy Forum on Using Knowledge for Development at Wilton Park, London (March 2001); Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Trade, Environment and Sustainable Development in Chiang Mai, Thailand (March 2001); Workshop on Development by Design, organised by the Media Lab, MIT, Cambridge in Washington (July 2001); II WIPO International Conference on Electronic Commerce and IP in Geneva (Sep 2001); Workshop on IPR, WTO, TRIPS Agreement and Environment, organised by UNEP in Geneva (Dec 2001); International Conference on Biotechnology in the Global Economy: Science and the Precautionary Principle at Harvard University, Boston (Sep 2000); Global Dialogue on the Role of the Village in the 21st Century: Crops, Jobs and Livelihood in Hannover, Germany (August 2000); European Science Foundation’s Workshop on Biotechnology, Agriculture and Environmental Policy in Rome (May 2000) and Second Global Knowledge Conference in Kula Lumpur (March 2000).
Coordinated a large research programme (6,50,000 CAD) 1993-2003 on Indigenous Knowledge Innovation and Network (Global) and Grassroots Incentives for Sustainable Natural Resource Management through collaboration between IIMA and SRISTI on one hand and other editors of regional language version of Honey Bee. The phase III of this project focuses on women innovators and knowledge network.
InfoDev Division of World Bank is supporting a project on creating electronic knowledge network among grassroots innovators using multimedia technologies. A multimedia database on Honey Bee and SRISTI's collection on grassroots innovations was presented at the first Global Knowledge Conference, Toronto, 1997.
Coordinating a project on creating a multi language electronic database on grassroots innovations developed by Honey Bee Network and SRISTI, supported by NISSAT, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India.
Finished a research project on Harnessing Wisdom for Watershed Management partly supported by FAO, pursuing research on in situ conservation of agro biodiversity and generating incentives for the same. WIPO has sponsored international case studies on Role of IPRs in Benefit Sharing to be circulated to General Assembly of WIPO.
Has been a consultant to CGIAR/World Bank, Swiss Development Co operation, BMZ, IADS, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council and Institute, Ford Foundation, IDRC, UNESCO, ISNAR, FAO, IFAD, National Institute of Health, USA, UNDP, WIPO, UNEP, CBD, WIPO, FTPP/FAO, OECD, UNDP, besides numerous national organisations such as NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), voluntary organisations, Member, Expert Committee constituted by Government of India to revamp Khadi and Village Industries Board and launch of new programmes, Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology (NDUAT), Indian Council Of Agricultural Research (ICAR), MOEF, co-ordinated a joint report on Reorganisation of Indian Council of Agricultural Re¬search Headquarters (1991). Since 1993, have reduced consultancy considerably to focus all energies on local innovations.
Member, Selection Board for
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Centenary Award for excellence in biomedical research,
instituted by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi; Member,
Central Advisory Committee on Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Delhi
(Two years from July 2006); Chairman, Sectoral Group on Rural Development for
the formulation of Eleventh Five Year Plan; Chairman, Committee on the
formulation of Eleventh Five Year Plan Proposal in the area of Biotech-based
Programmes for Societal Development; Member, Board of Directors of Dena Bank;
Member, Board of Directors of National Research Development Corporation;
Member, Advisory Committee for Recruitment and Assessment Board, Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research, Delhi and Member Editorial Advisory Board
of International Journal of Sustainable Development till 2005; Member, Advisory
Board of Innovations, a quarterly journal, jointly hosted at the School
of Public Policy, George Mason University and the Kennedy School of Government,
Harvard University, USA; Member, Editorial Board of Indian Journal of
Traditional Knowledge (Jan 2006-Dec 2008), A publication of National Institute
of Science Communication and Information Resources; Member, Delhi; Member,
Member, Sec 8 (1) Committee of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata;
Member, Advisory Board of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the
Environment (ATREE); Member, Research Council for National Institute of
Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi; Sub Committee on
Finance and Governance of Accreditation Board of ICAR, Coastal Zone Management
Authority, Gujarat, National Committee to prepare twenty year plan for
Forestry, MoEF; Member, Technical Advisory Group of Media Lab, Asia; Member
Expert, Research Council of National Botanical Research Institute Lucknow.
Served on the advisory committee
of an international cross country research project of International Service for
National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), The Hague on On‑Farm Client Oriented
Research;, was member External Advisory Committee, Centre For Indigenous Knowledge
for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa state University, USA; was member,
National Land Use and Conservation Board, and working group on soil
conservation for 7th and 9th Five Year plan, Rainfed agriculture and
watershed planning for seventh and ninth five year plan, Sub Group on Resource
Mobilisation for Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 9th FYP;
Planning Commission; was regional/ country representative of International Association
of Rural Sociology and International Society of Advancement in Socio‑
Economics; International Society of Ecological Economics; life member, Gujarat
Sociological association, Gujarat Economics Society, Indian Institute of
Public Administration Society, Member
Board of Directors, International Association For Studies of Common Property
Resources; Gujarat Institute of Development Research; and National Institute of
Vocational Education, Bhopal; Member Research Advisory Committee of Biological Sciences Division of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, National Academy of Agricultural Research
Management, Hyderabad; National Centre for Agricultural Policy, ICAR; Central
Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur; Board member VIKSAT, Ahmedabad.
Have guided FPM (doctoral) theses
on Ecological Movement, Incorporating Farmers’ Interests in Biotechnology
Input Development and Endogenous Innovations for Sustainable Pest Management,
besides being member of several other FPM committees on Trade and environment,
organizational change, risk and uncertainty in agriculture etc.