Knowledge for social good

We in India have some of the best brains in the world but sadly, we do not know to nurture it well, help make success stories out of these brains- leading to a brain drain. It is assumed that IITians all go to America to make their life, never to return to India. And then when they become citizens of their country, we take great pride is saying, “Indian born American” not realizing, it could have been just, “Indian”. mistaking the tress of the woods.

But nowadays we also come across various stories of IITians preferring to stay back and do some social good while making some modest money – social entrepreneurship is on the rise. One such IITian is Kannan Lakshminarayan. He is a mechanical engineer from IIT and he has come up with an idea, transforming the textile industry, to serve the needs of the poor.  His company, Microspin Machine Works has built technology which is helping farmers from Vidarbha almost double their income. His technology has a capacity of 400-450 and helps manufacture 100 Kgs of yarn per day in a space of 3,000 square feet. Unlike a traditional spinning mill, which could cost around Rs.100 crore, his units cost will be only around Rs.1 crore.  This yarn is sold either to the wholesaler or made into fabric and then sold as fabric.

Today, a weaver co-operative comprising over 200 handloom weavers and a cotton-growing area in Vidarbha, where Microspin is presently working with 200 farmers, are benefitting from this project. The farmer is now earning both wages and profits apart from his usual income from agriculture. Now this is what knowledge should ideally do – social good and not subservience to capitalism.