Date post: | 24-Jan-2015 |
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Social
Responsibilityof
Engineering
EducatorsP.L.Dhar
I I T Delhi
SREE
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 !
SREE
The Great Divide
30% population below poverty line ($1 a day)
80% population below $2 per day
SREE
In Vidarbha every day 3 farmers
have committed suicide during last
one year
The Great Divide
Per capita income(2004)
Norway $52030
Africa $100
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
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”
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
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.
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
Social Feasibility demands ..
Change in the world view through Education in Human Values
SREE
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
SREE
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
SREE
SREE
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