Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala

"Normal ATMs require atleast 10 lakhs rupees (around $20,000 ). If we were to convince banks to install one in each of the 650,000 villages in India, this was too expensive. So we went and created one that was just Rs.50,000 (around $1000 USD)" 

This was just one of the several amazing things I heard yesterday from Dr.Ashok Jhunjhunwala. He was doing a talk at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and since Microsoft is literally next door, he dropped by and did a talk here as well.You can see him deliver a similar here on Google Video.

I've never been a big believer in technology changing the quality of life in rural India. Until yesterday. I (and the rest of the audience) was completely floored as Dr.Jhunjhunwala related story after story of how he and his gang of IIT professors have used startups and technology to change the quality of life in India. Be it getting 100 million phones in India or be it doubling the rural GDP, they have some incredible targets.

When looking at the screenshots of some of the products they had created, I was slightly ashamed of myself and the work I do. Day in and day out, I think about products like Windows Live, the iPod and Zune, the XBox and so on. I think of these as 'products that matter'. But here was this IIT professor showing off a really ugly-looking Windows application that allowed doctors to remotely diagnose patients through video conferencing all at a very cheap rate. These applications change lives. Not an iPod or a XBox 360.

None of the technology was rocket science. Just good ol' fashioned ingenuity and perseverance. Truly amazing.

Forget the politicians and the corruption. This guy gives me hope for the entire country.

People talk of how movies like 'Rang De Basanti' make the feel patriotic. For me, listening to Dr.Jhunjhunwala made me feel patriotic.

I wish the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation or Google.org would throw a few billions atim and ask him to change the country. I'm sure he will.

Heck! He already has.


# Friday, September 22, 2006 3:26 AM
Comments:
I think its only before time before we get more postInitialHypeActualInnovative applications . And i wont be surprised if they first spring up in some opensource/ gov funded project first . Infact some of them already have...

Without taking away any from 'original ideas' possible irrespective of teh technology ,if you port 1% of useful opensource projects on sourceforge to an indian context ( probably could even be done as a theme for the ms student projects program ) , i think we can see some real socially relevent innovation or rather atleast hint that you could do allll thattt with ms technologies too.

Keep Clicking,
Bhasker V Kode
# posted by Blogger Bosky : 8:59 PM, September 22, 2006
 
I dont think the open source/proprietary distinction matters. I doubt whether the villager getting diagnosed cares whether the video conferencing app is up on SourceForge with a BSD license.

It's also not a question of cost - all of Tenet's accomplishments come from startups which have been extremely successful financially.

One of the points from the talk was - there is money to be made from rural India. And I dont mean that in a negative sense. Money means trade, development, etc, etc

Do see the video
# posted by Blogger Sriram : 10:05 PM, September 22, 2006
 
Interesting thing I've noticed lately. While a lot of people working with tech seem to be very optimistic about what India and Indians in general are capable of. You don't see the same attitude in people from other fields. You hear this agrument of a lack of a culture or ethics.

Personally I think it all just boils down to opportunity. Something that was stiffled untill very recently thanks to the whole license raj and all those other controls.
# posted by Blogger monkeeboi : 12:03 PM, September 23, 2006
 
Hi I have nothing much to say..! But a really nice post..! that did inspire me..! :)
# posted by Blogger Arjun : 8:27 PM, October 21, 2006
 
i have met him with my sister at IIT. One hell of an amazing guy.certainly makes u feel 'what am i doing here'! he told me(when i was in 1st yr) come to me for interesting final yr projects.
imagine if we had gone arnd telling hod,mahesh and thiru tht we plan to build atms in rural villages. !they wud have told us 'thats ok. but ur documentation first few pages r wrong"!!!
# posted by Blogger Gayathri : 9:55 PM, November 06, 2006
 
Your blog about Prof. Jhunjhunwala is a useful one, an eyeopener for readers including me. I have read a lot about Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, and his rural technologies, which enabled development of these rural pockets. In fact recently I had been thinking about a project on alternate energy (solar, wind, bio fuel, etc). I had also written to him about it, and he suggested we meet. If someone here on this blog has knowledge, work expereince, or experimented with alternative energy sources, please do get in touch with me. I would like to learn about this sector and if you are interested we could explore a project, which can benefit rural areas, which cannot afford traditional forms of energy
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 5:50 AM, December 18, 2007
 
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