Economic growth or military strength alone won’t make India strong, a truly sustainable society, at the heart of which is the family, is very much necessary, argues former President A P J Abdul Kalam in his new book.
Kalam and celebrated Jain thinker late Acharya Mahapragya in the book “The Family and the Nation” say that only a strong and happy family can lead to a strong and noble nation.
In writing the book, the ideas of the two authors were shaped by their interaction during the past few decades with millions of countrymen hailing from different walks of life.
“Each interaction enhanced our experience and added to our understanding of the development of a noble family, a noble society and a noble nation,” they write.
While embarking on this journey of writing a book, we realised the magnitude of connectivities involved and the extent of our society’s evolution during the last few centuries,” they say.
“It is true that all of us realise that today’s world is a connected one. Technology and travel have nearly made the world a global village. The world has to become a federation of nations.
A nation is a federation of states, social groups, families and individuals. So what is needed is a situation of live and let live.
“One’s needs, aspirations, accomplishments are all important. But there has to be a concept of a noble nation, where the welfare of the whole nation as a whole is ingrained in the thinking and actions of its people.
This is the need of the hour. How do we achieve this idea of a noble nation,” the authors ask. According to them, their visualisation of a noble nation is two-fold.
“One is internal, concerned with the individual and encompassing the family, community and society. Another concerns enterprise and covers the issues of livelihood, business, distribution of wealth and respect for individual property and rights,” they say.
The authors do not offer any new theory or postulate any new concept but draw from the heritage of our civilization.
“The bottom line is that a citizen with a value system respects the family, respects society, and thereby respects the nation. Furthermore, the person is conscious that he or she is a part of the world family.
“The operational line is the prosperity of people with adequate earning capacity. We call such a nation a developed nation. Economic prosperity and an embedded value system would promote a peaceful and prosperous society and thereby the evolution of a happy nation,” they write.
The book, published by HarperCollins India, stresses on the values that make for a truly sustainable society, at the heart of which is the family. For it is not economic growth or military strength alone that will make India strong.
Sustainable success comes from values, and these can sustain a society and a nation even in times of hardship. The book expresses an ideal by which Indian society may prosper and speaks of how spirituality can help create a noble nation and a better world. It provides a valuable counterpoint to the modern-day emphasis on consumerism and the philosophy of more is better, highlighting the sanctity of the natural world and its great power to evoke human creativity and love.
The two writers bring their vast experience to bear on this important subject. As the authors put it, it’s only a strong and happy family that will lead to a noble nation, one that can be a true fulfilment of 5,000 years of India’s civilization.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by PTI / August 26th, 2014
The District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) centre at Ranipet has come out with a first of its kind ‘Smart Learning System’(SLS) for the benefit of middle school students.
The multi-media based learning system packed in DVDs contains vivid explanations of lessons, add-on information and questions and answers as supplementary information for class 6, 7 and 8 textbooks, for the trimesters.
DIET principal A Basheer Ahmed told Express that a group of 25 teachers from government schools had prepared the SLS under the guidance of the DIET.
The purpose of the SLS is to make use of multi-media devices such as laptop and LCD projectors provided by the State, while motivating teachers to make use of digital support, to explain the lessons to students better, Basheer Ahmed said adding, “The SLS aims at overall development of students and teachers as well,” he added.
Around 20 to 28 lessons for English, Tamil, Maths, Science and Social Science subjects for classes 6, 7, 8 for one trimester are packed in four DVDs. Pictures, videos, animations and additional explanations for each lessons would enhance the grasping capability of students, Basheer Ahmed added.
The DIET would also prepare audio lessons for the visually-challenged children. We are in the process of handing over the DVD set to schools through the chief educational officer attached to the ‘Sarva Siksha Abyan’ Basheer Ahmed said while making a presentation of the DVDs to the CEO (SSA) on Monday. The CEO Anitha said, the distribution of DVDs to schools would begin soon after the nod from the government.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by V. NarayanaMurthi / August 27th, 2014
She is the first Kashmiri to develop an app and is now popularly known as the ‘Android girl’
Mehvish Mushtaq (23) Founder of projectDial Kashmir
A . If there is paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here…said Amir Khusrow, Sufi musician, poet and scholar about Kashmir.
Eons ago Kashmir conjured up images of beauty — Dal Lake, boat houses and snow capped mountains. But now, Kashmir has become synonymous with turmoil.
That’s why Mehvish Mushtaq is like a breath of fresh air. She is the first Kashmiri to develop an Android app — Dial Kashmir, which has become an almost mandatory application to have on one’s smartphone in Kashmir that has a population of around five million. She says she created the app with an aim to facilitate communication processes within the Kashmiri society.
Is there a lane that leads to your house that is water logged because a pipe burst, and you are clueless as to how to get in touch with the local municipal department? There’s a fire that needs to be put out? You need to contact a hospital or a newspaper office or get a gas cylinder delivered? These might seem like simple tasks in a city like Bangalore. But in a conflict-ridden Kashmir such problems take on a different hue. Step in Dial Kashmir, which is now into its fifth version, with Mushtaq working on the sixth.
Mushtaq who graduated in Engineering (Computer Science) describes herself as a tech savvy person. “Technology has always fascinated me.” In the winter of 2013, she did an online course on Android application development. As a part of the course, she was supposed to make an app. “I decided to develop something that would be useful to the local people,” she says. “The fact that whenever someone needed a contact number of a particular service, the process to obtain the information was not easy; sometimes the official sites were broken and sometimes you couldn’t find the number at all. All this motivated me to create the app.”
Dial Kashmir (a name suggested by her best friend) caters specifically to the Kashmir region. It gives users extensive information such as addresses, phone numbers and email ids of essential and commercial services in various sectors. In addition to that it also includes features such as prayer timings, railway timings, a flashlight, pin codes, ISD code etc. The app first become operational on February 28, 2013.
Mushtaq, now known as the Android girl, has been getting “appreciative” mails from all over the country. She says the app has not contributed much “materially. But the success gave me confidence and made me more outspoken.” And a new beginning and something to rejoice — for everyone who is bombarded with news about a troubled Kashmir at the other end.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Columns> Work / by Sudha Pillai, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / August 22nd, 2014
Hassan, an M.Sc (Biochemistry) student, explains working of a baby rescue unit designed by him to ANU Vice-Chancellor K. Viyanna Rao at the academic exhibition held in Guntur on Friday. Photo: T. Vijaya Kuma / The Hindu
An indigenous baby rescue unit to extricate children who accidentally fall into borewells in countryside has been designed by a student of Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU) here.
Hassan, a first year student of M.Sc. (Biochemistry), has designed a simple baby rescue unit, which he says, can be used to safely extricate babies from borewell pits, which sometimes are well over 100 ft deep.
His exhibit at the ongoing academic exhibition being held on Civil & Mechanical Engineering block has been catching the attention of viewers. ANU Vice-Chancellor K. Viyanna Rao asked the student to further modify the design and added that the university would support further research and development of the model.
Consisting of a cylindrical iron netted structure, the rescue unit has a bulb, a web camera and an oxygen cylinder tube attached to it. The structure is funnelled through the earth soil through extra pipes till it reaches the spot where the baby is located. Using the pictures beamed by the camera, the operator can use the trays at the bottom of the structure to extricate the baby with the soil. The continuous supply of oxygen with the tube helps the baby in staying alive during the operation.
“Conventional method of digging a parallel pit along with borewell consumes a lot of time and poses a risk to the life of baby. With the baby rescue unit designed by me, the whole operation gets completed within 2-3 hours and the precious lives of children can be saved,’’ Hassan told The Hindu.
Dean, College Development Council and Coordinator of academic exhibition, G.V. Chalam said that the exhibition featured innovative solutions including, solar based appliances, national disaster prevention mechanisms, NSS extension activities etc. The 10 science departments, professional colleges and University college of Pharmaceutical Sciences took part in the exhibition.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by P. Samuel Jonathan / Guntur – August 23rd, 2014
Alternative form of medicine with Chinese origins gets its own association for promotion
Cupping therapy, an alternative form of medicine with Chinese origins, is trying to find its space in the city. The International Cupping Association of India was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, and Dr Badruzzama Nadeem, a practising Unani physician who is the moving force behind it, has plans to take it to Chennai, Bhubaneswar, and Patna by the end of next month.
Cupping is an ancient practice where heated cup-like devices are used to create suctions on the skin. These suctions are believed by practitioners to not only detox the body but also help relieve pain in the spinal cord, neck, and shoulder region.
Dr Nadeem explained, “When suction is applied, blood from a radius of three centimetres from where the cup is placed is sucked into the bump.” Practitioners believe that ‘impure blood’ gets collected in one place and blood circulation gets better once the cup is released. They also hold that the method detoxifies the body.
Cupping can be broadly classified into two types — dry and wet. While dry cupping is practised using suction cups made of silicone, rubber, or fibre where the air is sucked out, wet cupping follows the same process except for the little incision made in the bump for ‘impure blood’ to trickle out — a procedure known as controlled bleeding.
A third form of cupping is fire cupping. Here, a cotton ball is soaked in 70 percent alcohol which is then held by a pair of forceps and lit. The lit cotton ball is then placed into the cup and removed as soon as it is placed. Practitioners say the process removes oxygen from inside the cup. It is then placed on the skin quickly to create a small amount of suction as the hot air inside the cup cools.
Dr. Nadeem founded the association, which was inaugurated by Health Minister UT Khader, in a bid to increase awareness. “At the moment there are not more than 65 practitioners in Bangalore,” he said.
INEXPENSIVE, AND HOT
Cupping as an alternate form of therapy is yet to catch on in Bangalore, despite being inexpensive. Treatments can rangeanywhere from Rs 100 to Rs 500 for dry cupping. “Since wet cupping requires experts, it can range from Rs 200 to Rs 1,500. At the moment we get six to seven patients a day, most of them due to word of mouth,” explained Dr Nadeem.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Tapasya Mitra Mazumder, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / August 20th, 2014
Less than a week ago, gynaecologist Laila Beegum supervised the birthing of a set of identical twins to a couple from Kodinhi village, now known globally for the high number of multiple births. The twin babies born on August 7 this year took the total number of such deliveries witnessed by her to 452.
Though the total number of twins in the village has now crossed 500, the mystery behind the phenomenon is yet to be unravelled.
Located close to Tirurangadi town in Malappuram district, Kodinhi village, with its high twinning rate, garnered global media attention around six years ago. At Kodinhi, twins account for 42 per 1,000 live births while the global average of twinning is reportedly around six per 1,000.
Brazil’s Candido Godoi and Nigeria’s Igbo-Ora have witnessed similar birth phenomenon. Attempts by several scientists and organisations to find the secret behind the high twinning rate have failed to bear fruit.
Recently, Dr N K Sribiju, public health consultant, Taluk Hospital, Tirurangadi, approached the state government seeking permission to conduct a genetic study on the local populace.
“Surely, there would be a scientific reason behind the birth of a huge number of twins in such a small area. But, the secret can be revealed only through a detailed genetic and environment study. We are awaiting permission from the ethical committee of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology at Thiruvananthapuram for the same,” said Dr Sribiju.
Significantly, more than 90 per cent of the couples from Kodinhi who reported twin births conceived normally. “Hence, IVF treatment cannot be considered as a reason for the high rate of twinning in Kodinhi,” Dr Biju said.
Dr Laila, who runs Laila’s Hospital, Chemmad, said multiple births are not just being reported by persons born and brought up here.
“Many women who came to Kodinhi after marrying someone here have also experienced twin birth. So, it could be due to some mysterious element of nature.
“Earlier, we conducted a water test but the results were not conclusive,” Dr Laila added.
Twins and Kins Association (TAKA) of Kodinhi believes that their village has the most density of twins in the world and is planning to approach officials of the Guinness Book to claim a record.
Get-together
“There are families having three pairs of twins and triplets at home. A 90-year-old man here is the eldest among the twins who are alive,” said Bhaskaran Pullani, president, Twins and Kins Association, which is planning to organise a get-together of all Kodinhi twins.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Santosh Christy / August 17th, 2014
Entrepreneurs are among those who are most influenced by decisions made by the government. And as leaders in different spaces, you would have a strong opinion or two about politicians, governance and the general state of affairs. The problem is, how do you get your ideas across to your elected representatives? That’s where iNeta, a futuristic platform for transparent politics, can make a difference.
The rise of AAP and catapulting of IIT grad Arvind Kejriwal into the chief minister’s seat in Delhi after mass campaigns involving citizens indicates that the time is ripe for initiatives like iNeta. If an awakened electorate wants to have a say in governance, what better way than to use technology and the web to facilitate the process?
An idea whose time has come
Software engineer Akram Khan started thinking about this long before Anna, AAP and Arvind arrived on the scene. He was talking politics with his flatmates in Hyderabad in 2007, when it struck him that there was a need for a new age communication platform to dialogue with elected representatives. He was working with Mindtree then. The consensus was that meeting leaders to tell them about any issue was very cumbersome if not impossible.
Around then, Tata launched the Jago Re campaign, and Akram’s friends thought he had come up with an idea whose time had come. But it remained dormant as Akram didn’t know how to develop on it. He went on to do other things: An MBA, a stint as the business development guy with his friend’s startup Innocent Technosoft – a mobile application and game development company based in Lucknow – and a startup of his own in the software consultancy space.
It was 2012 and a next generation platform that enables open governance still didn’t exist. So, “I thought, why not take it up again? By now, I had enough experience and knowhow to develop it,” Akram told YourStory.
iNeta went live on 2 October 2013 – the birth date of Mahatma Gandhi. The space in which iNeta operates is different from other platforms like Voterite, which are more into campaigning. “iNeta is about solving people’s problems. It is about open governance and taking e-governance to the next level.”
It is based on the idea that people want to talk to elected leaders about issues that affect them. “People need an audience with their leaders. It is an attempt to make governance open source, like how it should be in a true democracy,” explained Akram.
“It is often rightly said that the road to Delhi goes from Lucknow and that is where we are based. It is the hub of political activity in India,” Akram says. He runs iNeta with his friend, Ankur Srivastava, an IT engineer and a clean politics enthusiast.
“We are funding iNeta from our own pockets right now. Since I am a web developer, there are no bills to pay for developing the site. But of course, there are other costs. We are looking to expand and hire cartoonists, writers and analysts. So we have to look at ways this could be achieved,” Akram says.
Risks of the plunge
Akram says it was his basic curiosity to look for solutions to problems around him and see if they succeed or not that led him to entrepreneurship. “I am already working on my next idea while I develop iNeta for scaling.”
Like most entrepreneurs, the big risk for Akram too is financial. He has an education loan to pay off. The EMI makes him “always cash-strapped”, he quips. “Apart from that I am not afraid. I believe persistent effort is required for success and if I keep at it I would be successful.”
Born and brought up in Lucknow, Akram did his engineering from the Manipal Institue of Technology. After eight years in South India, he moved back to Lucknow to startup. “My initial plan was to develop a site like shiksha.com while I was doing my MBA in 2009. But it did not materialize and I had to drop it,” he recalls.
He learnt web development while working at Innocent Technosoft. “I was more of an idea guy and always used to look for someone to develop it. Since I did not have enough funds to get my ideas developed, I thought, let me try building one on my own. I trained myself in web development and started doing web consultancy to make money,” he says.
Akram lives in a joint family, where his mother looks after the house and father runs a manufacturing unit for textile accessories. His younger brother is a doctor. He has two sisters. One is a journalist with a leading Urdu newspaper in Noida and the other is doing her M.Tech in Biomedical engineering.
Getting politicians to respond
The political climate of India is such that it would take mainstream parties a lot of time to understand the power of a platform like iNeta and how to effectively utilise it, Akram feels. “We have spoken to several political leaders who liked the idea but are not quite keen to get on board as they think it might hurt them – which could be true, but this kind of platform is the future.”
The problem iNeta tackles is quite universal. People elect their leaders and then get to see them only when their elected term is about to get over. Even if a leader really wants to connect with people, there is no dedicated platform for this. It is impossible for him to meet every individual in his constituency anyway. This is where iNeta comes in with a web-based interactive solution.
Talking numbers, there are 790,000,000 (79 crore) voters in India. Of these, 120,000,000 (12 crore) are first-time voters. “We consider all the voters as part of our market because everyone at some stage or the other has a problem and would like their leader to be available to at least listen,” Akram says.
Currently, they have a working product ready and live. “We are improving it on a daily basis. Funding would really speed up our expansion plans.”
The best part about iNeta, he says, is seeing how happily people receive the idea when he talks to them about it. “When we tell someone about iNeta there is a big smile on their face as if this is something which they have been looking for and would love to use.”
To take it forward to a larger audience, they plan to try an SMS module, where people would get to know more about the contestants in their constituencies by sending an SMS. “We would be creating a blog and introducing our website in our Facebook and Google+ groups and other online forums. Later on, we might go for online advertisements as well,” he says.
Right on top of their list of priorities, though, is to get political parties on board, using the platform to engage with voters. “As they are the ones who would eventually answer to the people, unless they come on board, it is a useless idea. So that is top priority as of now.”
If enough people get on to iNeta, we bet politicians will soon follow, in this election season.
Are you curious about how Arvind Kejriwal won over Delhi in a year of starting the Aam Aadmi Party? You might like this: 5 secrets to the success of AAP
source: http://www.yourstory.com / Your Story / Home / by Malavika Velayanikal / February 10th, 2014
This just might be the good news the playback singers, actors, anchors, teacher, lawyers and politicians, who earn their livelihood through their voice, in the state have long been waiting for.
In a development that will cheer thousands of voice professionals and voice patients who have developed various voice disorders, the Calicut University has come out with a unique graduate programme in Vocology, the science and practice of voice habilitation and rehabilitation, in collaboration with Chetana National Institute of Vocology, Thrissur.
This is the first time in the country that an Indian university is offering a course in vocology with an aim of producing vocologists who habilitate vocal behaviour – a speech-language pathologist, otolaryngologist, vocalist trainer, or voice coach.
Based on the proposal submitted by the National Institute of Vocology, the University gas given permission (U.O No6304/2014/admn) to the Vocology institute to frame the syllabus and other things related to the launching of the course, said Dr Musthafa, director of SDE, Calicut University.
There are hardly a dozen major vocology institutes across the world mainly in developed countries like NCVS Summer Vocology Institute in USA and institutes in Finland, Japan, Turkey, and UK. “There is a huge dearth of trained vocologists in the country since vocology is not widely taught in academic institutions in the country as an independent discipline. Celebrity voice professionals, including film stars and vocalists, are used to confront with voice disorders and seek rehabilitation and the return of their operational voice or to benefit professionally from vocal habilitation by learning to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of their speaking voices,” said Fr Paul Poovathingal, the first vocologist in the country and the principal of National Institute of Vocology. “This six-semester course will equip a batch of 20 candidates to deal with all kinds of voice professionals and voice patients suffering from puberphonia (male having female sound), vocal cord paralysis, vocal nodule, phonatry gap, patients with wrong voice production, breathing techniques and poor lung pressure, and other voice disorders,” said Poovathingal. “Actor Mohanlal and even the late Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, who had lost his functional voice suddenly at the peak of a concert, have confronted with voice disorders at one point of time in their careers. Some of the eminent professionals have even vanished from their field for ever after voice disorders developed,” said George S Paul, an academician and a physicist.
The high-level of pollution in lifestyle and surroundings is taking a toll on the voice professionals and they often need the help of professional to overcome the difficulties in their voice production and to discipline their voice. So vocology being a new branch of knowledge, there is great scope for job in this sector, he added.
The syllabus for the course is being prepared by Fr Paul Poovathingal, George S Paul, Dr R Jayakumar, famed laryngologist who performed surgery on Mohanlal, V R Prabodhachandran Nair, a linguist, in consultation with Dr Ingo Titz of USA, who is considered as the father of Vocology.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Dhinesh Kallungal – ENS / August 11th, 2014
The Telangana government appointed Ahmed Nadeem as the chairman and managing director of Telangana Transco. Ahmed Nadeem, a 1997 batch IAS officer, will have the full additional charge of Transco. He is currently serving as the commissioner of prohibition and excise.
He will replace Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi, who has been placed at the disposal of the Government of India for appointment as director in the Cabinet Secretariat under the central staffing scheme, for a period of five years, on Central Deputation.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC Correspondent / August 11th, 2014
This innovator made a kit that frees women in many parts of the world of the threat of infection during childbirth.
Zubaida Bai at the production facility of ayzh, 30km from Chennai. Photo: Nathan G/Mint
Freedom from risky childbirth | Zubaida Bai
Growing up in Chennai, a young Zubaida Bai wanted to study further after completing class XII. A reasonable request, except that in her family, nobody—male or female—had made it to college. The women in her family were usually married in their teens. Plus, Zubaida’s father did not have the finances to put her through college.
Undeterred, she decided to fight fate.
At 33, Zubaida Bai was the founder-CEO of ayzh (pronounced “eyes”), a low-cost women’s healthcare company based in Chennai and Colorado, US. Her biggest achievement: JANMA, a birthing kit sold and distributed through non-governmental organizations and healthcare companies.
JANMA (birth in Hindi) kits consist of six things: an apron, a sheet, a hand sanitizer, an antiseptic soap, a cord clip and a surgical blade. They meet the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines of “six cleans” during childbirth—clean hands of the attendant, clean surface, clean blade, clean cord tie, clean towels to dry the baby and wrap it, and clean cloth to wrap the mother. A jute purse in five colours contains the kit and and it can be used as a purse after delivery.
From mundane struggles with a traditional Muslim family to being a successful innovator, Zubaida Bai’s journey has been one about exercising the right to free choice although that involved selling her jewellery to get ayzh off the ground.
Soon after school, Zubaida took a year off, selling retail banking services door-to-door for ABN Amro, cold-calling customers and earning her first pay cheque when she was 17. Soon she was in college, studying mechanical engineering, and went on to become the first graduate in her entire family. After graduation, she dreamt of designing cars, but ended up at auto-parts company Sundram Fasteners. “I was the only girl on the entire floor, all I did every day was change the dimensions on a CAD design or take printouts. I was getting fat from all the thayir saadam (curd rice),” she recalls.
She was soon planning her escape. Scouring the Internet for a master’s degree, she secretly applied to various universities. After an acceptance letter for a fully funded scholarship to an M.Tech programme at Dalarna University, Sweden, arrived, she told her parents. Her father thought this was one of those infamous scams that promised you a job and ended up hiring you as domestic labour. But finally, Zubaida left home.
In the summer of her first semester in college, she took a road trip, was part of a students’ exchange programme, visited Poland and, during a period of self-discovery, she decided to start wearing the hijab, though no one in her family did.
Back in Chennai before her second semester ended and coaxed to meet a potential suitor, Habib Anwar, she feared the worst. “(But) he said that he was looking for an educated girl, who he would like to work rather than sit at home and squabble with his relatives,” says Zubaida.
Anwar supported Zubaida’s plan to study further as well. Soon they were married. Much later, he would be instrumental in providing the necessary support to make ayzh a success.
In 2006, Zubaida gave birth to the first of her three sons, Yasin. It was a painful experience. She needed surgery, was forced to rest for two months and took close to a year to recover fully. In her childhood, she had witnessed the lack of healthcare facilities for her mother, close relatives and community, and the lack of financial resources to pay for these if they did happen to be available.
Sometime in 2009, as part of a master’s in business administration in global social and sustainable enterprises at the University of Colorado, US, Zubaida came to India to research ideas that could be developed into products. She worked with Chennai-based non-profit Rural Innovations Network (RIN), making the JS Milker, a vacuum-driven cow-milking machine, low-cost and commercially viable. In Rajasthan, she met a village dai (midwife) who had just delivered a baby with a grass-cutting sickle.
This was her a-ha moment. She started reading up on institutional childbirth. She stumbled upon a clean birth kit (CBK) while attending a tech event in Denver, US, promoted by the non-profit healthcare organization PATH. The kit had a plastic sheet, a Topaz blade, a piece of thread, a small square of soap, and a plastic coin. All this was wrapped in a box with instructions. She then travelled halfway across the world to Nepal, where a group of women was assembling the kit.
Unimpressed with the quality of the kit, she searched for more samples, but found none that matched her expectations. But she knew she was on to something, and started building her own improved version, using off-the-shelf components and assembling them.
By 2010, she had put together a rudimentary clean birthing kit called JANMA, which she tested in Bangalore, through her gynaecologist. The innovation won the Global Social Venture Competition for business plans at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad in March 2010, and followed it up by topping the Camino Real Venture Competition at the University of Texas at El Paso, US, later that month.
Zubaida Bai also received a 2010-11 fellowship related to maternal health from Ashoka, an organization which identifies and invests in social entrepreneurs. At one event, she met the who’s who of the world of maternal health. “They were folks who were shaping the future of maternal health. These are people I would have found impossible to meet, especially Wendy Graham, who does research on how clean birth kits prevent infections,” she says. Her interactions confirmed her belief that a product such as JANMA would have a market.
By 2011, they had sold 2,000-3,000 JANMA kits, priced at $2-5 (now around Rs.120-300), in India and had made some inroads into the US.
After the initial success, though, Zubaida Bai hit a wall. Ayzh needed funds for operating costs, scaling up and distribution channels. Forced to return to India after completing her course at the University of Colorado, Zubaida and Anwar had two MBAs and two children between them, and no jobs. Those were trying times.
Even as friends and family advised one of them to get a job, Zubaida and Anwar calculated that they needed $300,000 for one-and-a-half years for ayzh to get off the ground. A social impact firm assured them of $50,000 if they could raise $100,000 and $20,000 if they raised nothing. Everything hung in the balance till the end of 2012, when they were awarded the $80,000 Echoing Green fellowship. They also got a Canadian government grant for another $100,000, while an individual investor put in another $100,000.
This was the turning point. In 2013, they clocked $100,000 in revenue, and sold 50,000 kits in India, Haiti, Laos, Afghanistan and Africa.
The JANMA kit’s relevance is irrefutable. According to the UN, India’s maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births reduced by 65%, from 560 in 1990 to 190 in 2013. But that still means 50,000 women die every year in India while giving birth. Seventeen per cent of the women die from preventable infections. More than 300,000 infants in India die the day they are born, according to the report “Ending Newborn Deaths, Ensuring Every Baby Survives”, by the non-profit Save the Children and Joy Lawn, professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.
Zubaida’s goal for ayzh is three-pronged. She wants women to have power over their health by introducing new products for post-partum haemorrhage, a new-born kit, maternity pad and other innovations in reproductive health and family planning. Instead of creating products from scratch she wants to leverage the ayzh distribution platform to aggregate and sell products already available in the market. And, finally, she wants to launch an innovation lab for low-cost healthcare products, so that an entrepreneur with an idea does not have to go through the same grind that they did.
To realize this ambition they are currently in the process of raising $3 million in funding—a huge sum for a social enterprise selling low-cost products to bottom-of-the-pyramid customers—from social impact investors.
“We want to build a corporate entity, with a group of companies that will focus on women’s health and empowerment. Habib saw his mother struggle doing sewing and embroidery and I saw my mother struggle as well. They always brought in money, but were not appreciated and treated as an asset,” says Zubaida.
Nelson Vinod Moses is a Bangalore-based freelance journalist who writes on social entrepreneurship.
source: http://www.livemint.com / Live Mint & The Wall Street Journal / Home> Lounge> Business of Life> Indulge / Home – Leisure / by Nelson Vinod Moses / Saturday – August 09th, 2014
