Social

Responsibilityof

Engineering

EducatorsP.L.Dhar

I I T Delhi

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WHY ?

We should be concerned about the consequences of the education imparted by us

Our future depends upon the education of the youth

What Consequences ?How are our engineers benefiting the society ?

How is Modern Technology benefiting the society ?

Phenomenal growth in GDP – wealth of the nations !

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The Great Divide

30% population below poverty line ($1 a day)

80% population below $2 per day

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In Vidarbha every day 3 farmers

have committed suicide during last

one year

The Great Divide

Per capita income(2004)

Norway $52030

Africa $100

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Inequity is increasing ….for every Rs 100 generated by growth in India, the poorest 20% would

receive Rs8.9 while the richest 20% would receive Rs45.

The Environmental Problems

• Global Warming and its consequences

• Resource depletion –especially oil

• Increasing Strife - crime, violence, extremism

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Should the engineering educators be concerned about these issues?

•Social Responsibility of

Engineering Educators

• How to respond ?SREE

How to Respond ?

• Identify the root causes for these problems.

• Find alternatives, if any ? • Examine their feasibility.• Analyze the impact of world

view on technology and society

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The search for root causes …..

• Is inequity because of intrinsic differences in motivation, intelligence, abilities among people ?

• Is it because of the nature of technology or the model of development ?

• Is it because of the materialistic world view prevalent today ? – Happiness lies solely in sensory pleasures obtained

through material acquisition

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The search for root causes …..Understanding the Model of Development

• Increase wealth of nation through Planned growth in agriculture and industry--emphasis on centralized technologies – economies of scale

• The wealth would trickle down to masses thus alleviating poverty

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The search for root causes …..Understanding the characteristics of modern technology

• Centralization , Automation , Planned obsolescence

• Centralization =>Capital Intensive ( Only the rich can make best use of modern technological developments ) => increasing inequity

• Automation => unemployment

• Planned obsolescence => consumerism ,ecological disaster

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The search for root causes.... appreciating limitations of materialistic world view

• Materialistic world view promotes – consumerism ,ostentatious living– ‘criminal economy’ , strife– resource depletion– ecological disaster

• Rejects – simple living , ‘self control’– rejects ‘appropriate’ technologies– the spirit of Service

…...from “seva” to “naukri”

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The search for root causes..

Centralized technology using automation for mass production and creating artificial demands

through advertising

Materialistic world view

Increasing inequity, strife, ecological problems

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The search for alternatives …Gandhian Model (1909)

• Gandhian View :Development should be holistic & Non-exploitative, i.e. sustainable concept of ahimsa

• Need for self control : swaraj• Possible only in “Self sufficient Village

Republics ” : Gram-swaraj & Swadeshi ---wealth generation in a distributed manner & not re-distribution of wealth generated centrally

• Need for Rural Industrialization --decentralized production

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Why was Gandhian Model Ignored ?

• Technical feasibility : Is it possible to have production by masses in a manner that can compete with mass production?

• Social feasibility – Is it possible to bring about a change in the world view ofsociety?

• Gandhiji’s call to scientists and technologists in 1934

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Social Responsibility of

Engineering Educators

• To re orient engineering education so that engineers can respond to these challenges

• Our survival in 21st Century will depend on it.

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Technical feasibility….I

• Innovative designs to improve acceptability

• Improve product quality , develop simple low cost techniques for quality assurance

• Improve working conditions , hygiene

• Improve productivity & Reduce costs without displacing labour

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Technical feasibility… II• Improve packaging and

marketing

• Reduce energy consumption without increasing capital costs, , increase energy availability => appropriately

• Identify niche areas / products where decentralized manufacturing has a natural edge

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Need for an Institutional Mechanism to provide S , T & M inputs to this sector

Lab to land transition

Participatory technology development

Empowering artisans & craftsmen

Technical feasibility: the challenge of Rural Industrialization

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IIT Delhi’s recent efforts in this direction

• Setting up of MGIRI (Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Industrialization), in Wardha ( Min of ARI )

• Linking NGOs with it• Linking 12 prominent S &T institutions of the

country with it as its TIUs (Technical Interface Units)

• Demonstrating the efficacy of S ,T & M interventions in strengthening rural Industrialization

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Social Feasibility demands ..

Change in the world view through Education in Human Values

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IIT Delhi’s recent efforts in this direction

• Setting up of National Resource Centre

for Value Education in Engineering in 2001

• Developing possible frameworks for value education

• Conducting workshops for developing course material for value education of engineering students

• Introducing the students to various methodologies of value inculcation

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Cardinal Principles of Value Education

♦♦The foundation should not bemade dependent on myth, or authority

♦Provoke the students to analyze the world and the experiences of their own life

-its goals, aspirations,etc.♦♦Value dimension should permeate teaching♦Give practical training in self-restraint &

self observation to actually inculcate values♦Teachers as senior students, nor moral masters

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Concluding Remarks• All the problems of modern times , be these technogenic or

social, have their roots in the materialistic world view and the technology based on this world view

• Only a change in the world view can usher a change in life style, and technologies needed to survive beyond 21st Century.

• Education in human values is the foremost need of 21st

Century. Only that can usher in a holistic world view and alternative eco friendly technologies.

• Technology has increased the vulnerability of society to strife and violence

• Mere technological innovations will not solve even the technogenic problems, leave aside the social problems like strife and violence.

Thank You All !SREE