It is now past 10 years since I completed active Govt. Service in DAE. A stock taking of what could be done during this detached-attachment phase is thus in order. Quite apart from remaining involved in the activities of several institutions engaged in Energy, Education and Science-based development domains, steering of seven committees on issues of national importance was a useful value addition from my perspective. The reports of these committees can be found under ‘Assignments’. I also believe that valuable experience could be gathered during this period on Knowledge and Technology enabled human development for sustainable capability building in rural areas through the concept of bridging city and village (CILLAGE). I believe, this is important for bridging urban-rural divide through creation of wealth and value at the base of socio-economic pyramid. The experience has also strengthened my belief that a lot can happen through such joint efforts between individuals as well as organised /unorganised groups and the progress depends on how conducive an ecosystem they together constitute. It is probably time to think about giving a more organized shape to this ecosystem network for better information dissemination, experience sharing and mutual support. I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards all partners in this process for the progress so far.
Challenges related to universal access and utilisation of affordable clean energy at an adequate level, well before the world reaches the tipping point as well as bridging the growing disparities before the humanity reaches a flash point, are daunting and require sui generis approaches that address specific Indian situation not biased by any vendor logic. In the knowledge era that we are fast embracing, we need to augment relevant capabilities of our human resource and leverage our demography to build appropriate local solutions for local problems. This could lead to very attractive dividends, provided we take proactive steps in the right direction in an aggressive manner. We can ill afford the nightmare that could result otherwise.
Clearly, the emerging knowledge era presents plenty of opportunities particularly for the youth. Apart from appropriate capacity building through education and training, each individual should be able to figure out ones own Ikigai, the Japanese concept on reason for being, which is specific to individuals’ life, values and beliefs. The ecosystem around individuals should significantly facilitate such self-discovery and influence individual / group performance, happiness and ethics. In absence of a conducive ecosystem, there could be a fierce and mindless competition causing tensions. A significant cultural transformation that envisions deeper mutual interaction and a comprehensive knowledge engagement is thus indicated for us to emerge as a successful society in the contemporary era.