Make your own spectacles

Inventor designs 'tunable' glasses to help one billion in Third World see
The need: The U.K Guardian reports that there is one optometrist for every 4,500 people in Britain, while in sub-Saharan Africa the ratio is 1:1,000,000.
The Innovator: Joshua Silver who was a professor at Oxford University,
The innovation: His adaptive glasses are designed to be "tuned" by the wearer to suit their eyes without the need for a prescription and can help both short-sighted and long-sighted people. Working on the principle that thicker lenses are more powerful than thin ones, Prof Silver's spectacles can be adjusted by injecting tiny quantities of fluid. The tough plastic glasses have thin sacs of silicone liquid in the centre of each lens. They come with small syringes attached to each arm with a dial for the wearer to adjust the amount of light-bending silicon until they can see clearly. Once the lenses have been adjusted, the syringes are removed and the spectacles worn just like a prescription pair. They are similar to wearing double paned windows with a gel in between. The current price is a pretty cheap $19.

The journey: He set on the idea of developing an adjustable spectacle after a chance conversation in 1985 when he and a colleague were discussing optical lenses. It took more than 20 years to finally come up a design which can be made cheaply on a large scale. Today, his invention is being worn in more than 10 countries, including African villages. Soon, the poor of India also will be sporting Silver’s spectacles.
Along his journey to delivering a viable product, Silver won a Popular Science Best of What’s New Award in 2000. His AdSpecs were featured again in the magazine’s March 2009 issue. He has steadfastly followed an arduous journey, and refuses to sell his idea for monetary gain. No IPO in this man’s future, although he said he has been offered millions for his design. He is afraid that another company wouldn’t make the world’s poor their priority. So, he looks for philanthropists who are interested in ministering to the disadvantaged. He was recently joined by an Indian businessman, and together they plan to provide one million pairs of glasses in India.

The Future: Professionals devoted to eyesight problems are few and far between in developing countries. Silver hopes to deliver self-adjusting eyeglasses to 1,000,000 underserved Indian people.
Money is a factor, of course. Silver is aiming to distribute 100 million pairs each year. Getting the production costs down to a dollar a pair is more than a challenge, even in lots of a million at a time. Oxford University has agreed to host a Centre for Vision in the Developing World, with plans to work on a World Bank-funded project. Hopefully, that will attract more funds for Silver’s humanitarian cause.

You tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4OiRjv81BY
Here’s a link to the story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/3899781/Inventor-designs-tunable-glasses-to-help-one-billion-in-Third-World-see.html

MEGA LOK ADALAT: solve 2.5 lac pending cases in 2 days!

 Innovation: Initiated by Justice T. S. Thakur, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, this innovation aims to settle maximum number of cases through mutual consensus without following the lengthy judicial process.
 What was done: A two-day Mega Lok Adalat was organized to decrease the huge pendency of cases in the Subordinate Courts, as per the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice T S Thakur. Done on December 20 and 21, 2008.
 How it was done: The journey to make this experiment a smash hit started some three months before with high court authorities informing their subordinate courts that they would try and clear 2.5 lakh cases in 2 days. They were told to collaborate with various government departments and corporates and set a cut-off limit regarding value. Hence all cases below this amount were given a chance to be heard at the mega lok adalat. Arrangements were made for security to be provided by cops and medical facilities were arranged from the administration, which made it an `event to remember' on Saturday.
 Uniqueness:
 1st of its kind initiative in the world.
 Aims at solving cases in lakh’s and not in hundreds or even thousands.
 A solution for all states to provide speedier justice at a magnanimously large scale.
 Impact:
 In Chandigarh: more than 30,000 cases under various Acts were settled on Day One, with transaction of almost Rs 4 crore taking place in Chandigarh's district courts.
 In Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, an area known for people taking every small matter to court, over 14,000 cases were disposed off in one day itself
 In Ludhiana district alone, 56 Judicial Benches were set up during the Mega Lok Adalat and more than 44000 cases were disposed off involving a compensation of around 37.71 crore.
 Haryana, Financial Commissioner& Principal Secretary (Power), Ashok Lavasa said here today that the distribution corporations had offered an attractive settlement scheme for all type of cases pending in various courts, to settle through Mega Lok Adalats by paying 50 per cent of the penalty in most of the cases. Surcharge levied on the arrears in such cases was to be waived off 100 per cent. Responding to the attractive scheme, as many as 3240 consumers came forward to get their cases settled in Mega Lok Adalats through mutual consent. An amount of Rs 1402 crore was involved in these cases out of which Rs. 405 crore have been recovered through settlement.
 A ‘mega’ Lok Adalat for settlement of the Motor Vehicle Act cases pending in the High Court, district courts of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy besides tribunals will be organised here on February 15, 2009 in Andhra Pradesh.

Solve 2.5 lac pending cases in 2 days!

MEGA LOK ADALAT
Initiated by Justice T. S. Thakur, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, this innovation aims to settle maximum number of cases through mutual consensus without following the lengthy judicial process. A two-day Mega Lok Adalat was organized to decrease the huge pendency of cases in the Subordinate Courts, as per the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice T S Thakur. Done on December 20 and 21, 2008.

The journey to make this experiment a smash hit started some three months before with high court authorities informing their subordinate courts that they would try and clear 2.5 lakh cases in 2 days. They were told to collaborate with various government departments and corporates and set a cut-off limit regarding value. Hence all cases below this amount were given a chance to be heard at the mega lok adalat. Arrangements were made for security to be provided by cops and medical facilities were arranged from the administration, which made it an `event to remember' on Saturday.

Impact:
In Chandigarh: more than 30,000 cases under various Acts were settled on Day One, with transaction of almost Rs 4 crore taking place in Chandigarh's district courts.
In Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, an area known for people taking every small matter to court, over 14,000 cases were disposed off in one day itself
In Ludhiana district alone, 56 Judicial Benches were set up during the Mega Lok Adalat and more than 44000 cases were disposed off involving a compensation of around 37.71 crore.
Haryana, Financial Commissioner& Principal Secretary (Power), Ashok Lavasa said here today that the distribution corporations had offered an attractive settlement scheme for all type of cases pending in various courts, to settle through Mega Lok Adalats by paying 50 per cent of the penalty in most of the cases. Surcharge levied on the arrears in such cases was to be waived off 100 per cent. Responding to the attractive scheme, as many as 3240 consumers came forward to get their cases settled in Mega Lok Adalats through mutual consent. An amount of Rs 1402 crore was involved in these cases out of which Rs. 405 crore have been recovered through settlement.
A ‘mega’ Lok Adalat for settlement of the Motor Vehicle Act cases pending in the High Court, district courts of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy besides tribunals will be organised here on February 15, 2009 in Andhra Pradesh.

Tutor Vista: Taking tutions outside India

Tutor Vista: Tutor Vista is a global education services company. It offers online tutoring services for students in various subjects and languages.
• A student gets enrolled through subscription and tutors are selected through a rigorous process
• A student select the time and subject he/she wants to get trained on. Tutor Vista selects the teacher available for the time slot and fixes the session
• Sessions are conducted over Tutor Vista’s platform. Student and teacher interact over VOIP, chat. The platform also has a white board to make it effective
• The central system is like Air Traffic Control Room – sessions are lined up for take off and closure. There are standby tutors line up in case a tutor drops out at the last minute
• Many tutors are professionals like Software Engineers, MBA Students, Radio Jockeys, Air Traffic Controllers and Army Officers apart from qualified teachers. This ensures a rich coaching with unique perspectives
• While several companies offer fixed content package for a course, Tutor Vista model is based on personalized and one-on-one coaching
• Started with one tutor and one student. Within 18 months had 400 tutors and 10,000 students
• Success of the business and need has led to demand from Korea, Canada, UK. Has teachers across the globe for students across geographies. Its currently expanding into teaching various subjects
• In November 2006, it was named the exclusive online tutoring provider for the Microsoft MSN Encarta online education portal.
• In April, 2007 Vocabulary.com engaged TutorVista as its exclusive tutoring service provider, giving it access to more than 19,000 schools.

mChek: India's 1st mobile phone payment service

mChek is an innovative and secure service where the user can pay anytime-anywhere-any amount through the mobile phones. It ties up with merchants, service providers, banks to bring alive a cashless transaction. Applications start from paying bills to over to counter purchases
How it works?
• Subscribers can register for the service with their network provider like Airtel. In case the subscriber’s service provider doesn’t have tie up with mChek, subscriber can independently register with mChek
• Once the details of the card – number, CVV and expiry date are registered, the information is tagged with mobile phone number
• Consumers can use the mChek service across all platforms and companies who have the mChek facility. The transaction is completed with the bank in the back end through proper authentication processes
Business Model
• The service is free for consumers
• The business model works on a revenue sharing basis with the mobile service provider and the merchants
Uniqueness:
• First mobile payment service in India
• It started off as a ‘pay bill’ service and is currently expanded to transferring money through mobile, buying rail/rail tickets, paying insurance premium, any purchase/retail transaction over internet
• Triple Layer security layers ensure total security.
• Avoids chances of identity theft and fraud – concerns over internet transactions
• World’s first mobile payment company to receive PCI-DSS 1.1 certification
• Complete cashless transaction and any amount can be transacted
Impact:
• Astounding adoption rate: One million subscribers within 7 months of launch with Airtel
• Consumers: Safe, smart and simple payment solution for anywhere, anytime transactions including remote payment of bills, inter-personal payments and web transactions. Multiple cards on one SIM card
• Multiple Credit/Debit cards from multiple banks on a single SIM
• Bill Banner system allows space for CPA ads
• Faster deal closure cycles

Software for people with cerebral palsy

Webel: Pictorial
As Cerebral Palsy affected people have involuntary muscle movements , it is quite difficult for them to use conventional input devices like mouse or keyboard.

Innovation: Pictorial is an audio-visual software, having specially developed keypads that help cerebral palsy children communicate their feeling by selecting pictures. The software is a learning aid as well as a teaching aid in the filed of picture based communication. The software supports Hindi, Bengali, Mizo and English.

How it works: The software and keypads could be attached to any computer. For children who cannot use hands, Webel has developed foot-switches that can be used to select pictures for expressions. The software has a database of 2000 pictures to select from and the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy has provided Webel with these specially designed icons. In each icon, there is a sound file, which can generate audible expressions. By clicking on any icon, the user will be able to play the sound file and make people understand their feelings. The software has a pair of specially designed hand switches for two hands. While one switch would be used to scroll through the pictures, the other switch would be for selecting an expression or pressing the 'Enter' button. Similar mechanism is in place for the foot switches.

The software has been installed at two Cerebral Palsy Institutes in Kolkata &Aizwal.
Check out WEBEL’s newsletter: http://www.webel-india.com/Download/Webel%20House%20Journal%20Issue-6.pdf

Sloka Telecom: Technology doesn't always have to be fantastic, it can be very basic

Meet the winner of the Nasscom Innovation Award 2008: Sloka Telecom

Founded in 2004, the Bangalore-based Sloka Telecom develops one of the most compact and cost-effective base stations for the telecom sector. After over 14 years of work experience, Sujai set out to solve real problems in India's telecom space with advanced, cost-effective solutions for broadband wireless, voice, and video applications, for rural and urban markets. There was an opportunity in the base station market where the future was for smaller and cheaper base stations that can save substantial savings to operators so that they can carpet blanket the network with many base stations to give excellent coverage and connectivity.

What are the features of the award winning compact base stations for WiMAX and 3G?
Our base stations are the smallest and also the cheapest. They are all-outdoor base stations and can be installed on towers, poles, rooftops, traffic posts, etc. They do not need expensive AC housing and can cool itself in different weather conditions. Our base station solutions help the operator decrease his capital expenditure by more than 50 per cent.

What was the idea behind this innovation?
The traditional designs for base station are suited for Macro base stations which are quite expensive almost 5 to 10 times more than Sloka's compact base stations. In order to make base stations smaller, their power consumption lower, and to make them cheaper, Sloka came up with a revolutionary and patent-pending architecture called SDBSA. This architecture allows Sloka to use readily available hardware while emphasizing on efficient software algorithms to make them smaller and compact.

Read the full story: http://specials.rediff.com/money/2009/mar/18slide1-innovation-woes-india-neglects-product-firms.htm

India's 1st P2P lending platform: dhana X

dhanaX is an online-offline person-to-person (P2P) lending platform that allows Indians to lend and borrow money from each other.

How it works?: dhanaX identifies and partners with recognized microfinance organizations, NGOs and credit societies that look into the economic needs of the poor . As a lender, you can extend credit at a mutually agreed rate of interest to a suitable enterprise or individual through dhanaX . At the end of the stipulated loan period, dhanaX will facilitate the repayment of principal amount with interest with the help of partner organizations

DhanaX gets a 6 per cent commission from a borrower on every funded loan, and takes a 1.5 per cent service fee on monthly repayments from a lender. So effectively, DhanaX earns 7.5 per cent on every transaction. There is also a registration Fee to enter into the system

First to introduce the concept of social lending. For a lender looking for a social investment, or a borrower seeking an affordable loan, dhanaX is the best forum – It connects them. Interest rates are co-created. Facilitators of the process, legally compliant. Assures collection guarantee

It is the first Indian company to come up with the concept of P2P lending and make a business model out of it. Has created a new ecosystem by partnering with MFI, NGO to bridge the need gap among economy classes. Lender gets an interest rate better than a short-term fixed deposit. Borrowers get loans on affordable interest rates. Business Process is being patented

http://www.dhanax.com

Getting your passport taking a lot of time?

Once the passport Seva Project is completed, new passports would be issued in three days time while in cases requiring police verification, within three days after the completion of the process.
Passports issued in India has gone up 2.2 times between 1997 to 2007, and by 2011, the demand would go up to 1 crore. So have the number of passport offices gone up proportionately? No. There continue to be thirty-seven offices, putting considerable strain on manpower and infrastructure, leading to inevitable delays and headaches. However, the Central Passport Organization managed to increase output and issued about 50 lakh passports in 2007 as compared to around 35 lakh in 2005.
Even though most passport offices are fully computerized, there is a growing need to make available services like real-time online tracking of status of applications; an effective enquiry and grievance redressal system; digital photo capture; and biometric passports.

It is to address issues like these and many more that the Indian government decided to launch the ambitious Passport Seva Project. The objective behind the project is to deliver all passport-related services to citizens in a timely, transparent, accessible, and reliable manner; and in a comfortable environment through streamlined processes, says Dr TV Nagendra Prasad, director (PV) & project director (Passport Seva Project).

With the first phase expected to be completed by January 2010, four pilot Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) would be established at Chandigarh, Bangalore and New Delhi. Under the project, TCS would be required to open 77 PSKs across India.
Read full article: http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/egovernance/2009/109012402.asp

e-governance: Health on your mobile?

Health at your Fingertips: Earlier, there was no centralized depository of health facilities in the district. Citizens had to check telephone directories, etc to get the telephone numbers. Now, Citizens can get the details of health facilities available in the District of Kozhikode through SMS.

Innovator: The project has been an initiative of Kerela State IT Mission.
Innovation: During emergencies, timely attention is more important than specialized attention given late and Dr SMS helps find the nearest hospitals in such cases. Inaugurated on November 07, 2008, the service, provides users with a comprehensive list of medical facilities available in their locality. Based on the PIN Code, one can get the SMS feeds of the Health facilities available in and around the mentioned PIN code. If an email address is sent, the system automatically sends the detailed list to via email as well. The system can give pointers to blood banks, diagnostic centers, private hospitals, specialty centers, facilities for surgery and ventilators, and the list of specialist doctors in the district.

Sustainability:
The mobile penetration in Kerala is over 50% and increasing as compared to around 10% of Internet penetration, hence it uses a more common and available medium. Mobile phones are more affordable compared to broadband and therefore Dr SMS has much greater reach. Service is available round the clock.

Read full article at: http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/egovernance/2009/109012401.asp

India leads developing nations in private sector investment

India has had the most success attracting more private investment in infrastructure in 2006 than any other developing country.
Thanks to the success of its reforms in transport and telecommunications, India attracted more investment commitments to infrastructure projects with private participation in 2006 than any other developing country. Indeed, commitments in India were nearly twice those in its nearest rival, Brazil, and well ahead of those in China.

Check the full report: http://www.pppinindia.com/pdf/gridlines.pdf