Shodhyatra: Documenting traditional wisdom and indigenous inventions

Express news service

It was a part of the 20th Shodhyatra of the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI), a city-based NGO. The eight-day yatra saw 140 people from different walks of life traversing 150 km on foot under the leadership of Prof Anil K Gupta of IIMA. Gupta says, “We select a less developed region for these journeys and try to study the traditional wisdom and indigenous inventions in these places. Purulia is a drought prone area, one of the poorest districts in the country and has a significant tribal population. In our journey, we ended up documenting over 2000 traditional knowledge practises, which shows that economic or social backwardness is independent of inherent intelligence.”

The yatra commenced on December 26 with three groups each starting from Patamda in Jharkhand, Bagmundi and Raghunathpur in West Bengal and merged enroute at Bhaghaband.

Besides the participation of people from several parts of the country, it also included two Chinese professors and a German journalist.

SRISTI has signed MoUs with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Innovation Foundation and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Gupta says, “We pass on our findings to them, so that these ground level innovations can be taken forward. The unique asthma formulation made of herbs will definitely interest the ICMR.”

The NGO is also encouraging inventors to make prototypes of their products, so that it can be used by a larger population. SRISTI’s next Shodhyatra is likely probably be in Bihar in May this year.