Science and technology for rural India

Though the importance of science and technology for rural India was appreciated in the 1930s by Gandhi, giving rise to the work of the Centre for Science for Villages, advanced institutions of education, science and technology turned their attention to this area only in the 1970s. The most well-known of these efforts was from the Indian Institute of Science with its programme for the application of science and technology to rural areas known by its acronym ASTRA. ASTRA (recently renamed as Centre for Sustainable Technologies) was based on a model of science-technology interactions in a 'dual society' like India with a small affluent elite amidst a large economically deprived majority living primarily in rural areas. The model showed that inter alia an extension centre and a mission-oriented programme would be required to develop technologies to address the normally ignored needs of the rural population. While many features of this initial ASTRA model have been validated, it also had several shortcomings that are described. An attempt has been made in this article to indicate some directions along which the model should be updated taking into account the emphasis today on sustainable development. Special attention has been devoted to the failure modes in the generation, commercialization and dissemination of rural technologies. Finally, the barriers to the commercialization and dissemination of rural technologies are discussed.