Ideas of possibilities

Ethical sourcing of materials

2009-07-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

I read an article on the use of child labor in mining Mica for cosmetic companies.

The problem of child labor and corrupt practices used for producing raw material can be addressed by companies procuring ethically and using a positive message to differentiate themselves from others. A new philosophy of business termed "ethical sourcing" can be a differentiator among the ethical and unethical companies. The consumer would be empowered to make a choice of where he/she wants to spend money on and the workers would be compensated fairly.
Brilliant Earth uses this philosophy and provides conflict free diamonds by verifying the source of their diamonds.
The idea while not new or unique is worth pursuing in many industries since consumers are more aware about the consequences of their actions.

Teach for India - Part time

2009-07-17T22:41:00.001-07:00

I read an article on Teach for India which requires individuals to dedicate two years teaching full time. The selection procedure seems rigorous and the results should be very good. Could everyone who is interested in teaching do this?
I had an idea of making a Teach for India program with a part time commitment from an individual. One should be able to teach on weekends and still make a difference in a student's life. If people feel strongly about teaching after a part time stint they could go ahead and make a full time commitment.
Students who graduate without a job or those who want to do something different with their time after graduation might be ideal to teach either full or part time for a few months.

Adopt a farmer

2009-07-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

I was watching a video on the plight of Vidarbha farmers of being in debt and committing suicide.
One way to solve this problem would be for a group of individuals to pitch in a fund and adopt a farmer. The adoption would involve in helping the farmer get into new crops and alternative livelihood to avoid the conditions that cause debt. The help I was envisioning would be to reimburse the farmer the possible loss in income from adopting a new crop/livelihood. If the farmer falls short of his/her annual income by say Rs.30,000, the fund would reimburse the farmer. The term of such a fund could be till the farmer can achieve a level of income that is decided upon as being adequate to live without going into debt.

1. What about micro loans?
2. Will farmers take debt for family expenditure (e.g. marriage) and get stuck in the debt trap?
3. How to ensure that farmers are motivated to work hard in the alternate livelihood?

Ideas for the future

2009-07-17T22:32:00.001-07:00

New ideas can address the issues that we encounter in our daily lives. Whenever I come across an issue I think of ways to solve it, which generates lots of ideas. My blog intends to capture the ideas before they vanish into the consciousness they came from.
One needs to think of changing the paradigm in which a problem was created to achieve something different. Scientific problems have inspired individuals to venture into the realm of creativity and innovation, while social problems have been left to the social scientists. The past decade has given a new impetus to solve the glaring social problems of poverty, inequality, quality of life. Scientists have realized that social problems could be as challenging and interesting as scientific ones. The common thread that ties the solutions to our scientific & social problems is the application of creativity to apply new ideas to old problems.