Lecture 27: Holistic Technologies, Production Systems and Management Models-Typical Case Studies��

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Recap

• As discussed in the previous lectures, the right understanding provides us the vision for a holistic development and humane society (universal human order).
• Such a model will necessitate the visualization and development of appropriate technologies, production systems and management models etc. which cater to the fulfilment of such a vision.
• We will discuss some of the details in this lecture.

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Need for a Holistic Worldview

• In the present times, there is a great zeal for the development and adoption of innovative technologies and systems, tools, techniques and models which are claimed for the ‘betterment’ of society.
• More and more sophistication and complexity are being added. However, most of the effort is going on under the influence of the dominant world view (limited to materialistic perception); needless to say that the holistic world-view is missing in such efforts.
• As a result, both the structure as well as the use/misuse of these innovations, is often proving to be counterproductive, contrary to the long-term human welfare.
• Therefore, there is a strong need to develop technologies and systems with holistic objectives governed by right understanding to render them conducive to sustainable human welfare (through humane society).

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A Holistic Criteria for Evaluation

• Catering to appropriate needs and lifestyles
• Eco-friendly (cyclic / renewable and mutually enriching)
• People-friendly- ensuring self-development and mutual fulfillment in human beings
• User-friendly – safe, economical and enhancing human capability

In addition, these have to promote local self-sufficiency and optimal utilization of local resources and expertise.

As far as possible, priority should be for naturally available processes and systems.

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In the light of these broad criteria, specific criteria for Evaluation can be broadly defined for the area of technologies, production systems and management models as follows;

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Criteria for Technologies

• Catering to real human needs (of both the body and the self)
• Compatible with natural systems and cycles
• Facilitating effective utilization of human body, animals, plants and other natural materials
• Safe, user-friendly and conducive to health
• Low cost and energy efficient
• Producible with local resources and expertise as far as possible
• Promoting the use of renewable energy resources
• Enhancing human interaction and cooperation
• Promoting decentralisation
• Enhanced Durability, life cycle and recyclability of products

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Criteria for Production Systems

• In determining the type of production systems, the key questions to be answered are:
• What to produce?
• How to produce?
• For whom to produce?
• How much to produce?

These questions (issues) have been discussed while studying about the harmony in society- human goal and its fulfillment through different dimensions of the societal system.

So, the needs are to be characterised in consonance with the comprehensive human goal and they have to be fulfilled through human systems defined there.

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• All these will be decided in the context of availability of local natural resources and expertise to cater to the needs of the people for any given community.

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Specific Criteria Production Systems

• Optimal and efficient utilization of local resources and expertise, including human beings, animals, air, solar, land, water, other bio and mineral resources etc.
• Economic viability and sustainability
• Priority for local consumption
• Matching the pattern of production with the availability/ producibility in the local environment and the pattern of consumption
• Decentralized systems capable of meaningful employment of people in the community
• Facilitating production by masses and not mass production in a centralized mode, to the extent possible
• Promoting individual creativity and sense of accomplishment
• Using people-friendly and eco-friendly technologies
• Ensuring requisite quality and quantity of production
• Harnessing recycling, conservation and reuse possibilities
• Safe and conducive to the health of persons involved in production as well as others. Ultimately it should be conducive for self-development.

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Criteria for Management Models

Primarily management models are to be relationship based, cooperative and ensuring justice in terms of mutual fulfillment and not coercive and exploitative. Specifically,

• The whole unit working as a well-knit family
• Cooperative, motivational and mutually fulfilling
• Ensuring correct appraisal of human labour and skills
• Targeting employer-employee satisfaction as well as consumer satisfaction and not profit maximization
• Sharing of responsibility and participative mode of management
• Continuous value addition (self-evolution) of the persons involved
• Effectively integrating individual competencies and complementarity

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A Critical Appraisal of the Prevailing Systems

• Present-day systems have been largely developed under the influence of the dominant world view (limited to materialistic perception)
• This has caused menace of resource depletion on one hand and environmental degradation manifesting in the form of pollution and global warming etc. on the other.
• The other undesirable characteristics of modern technologies and systems include their centralized configurations, promotion of wastefulness, excessive transportation and substitution of human, animal and other natural resources by man-made gadgets, machines and materials (largely dependent on non-renewable enrgy sources)
• It has given a lower priority (no priority) to human development and human fulfillment as far as human consciousness is concerned.

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Learning from the Systems in Nature and Traditional Practices

To gain an insight into the holistic systems, we have a lot to learn from systems of nature and from traditional practices. Typically,

• The water harvesting and storage and utilization systems through ponds and other artifacts
• Traditional agricultural practices
• Grain storage and food preservation practices
• Systems of sharing food and shelter prevalent in social and religious institutions, e.g. langar
• Traditional local remedies and health-care techniques
• Yoga, Ayurveda, Naturopathy-based and other traditional healthcare systems
• Family based rural enterprises
• The jajmani system – relationship-based village system to ensure rural self-sufficiency
• Rural craft and artisanal practices

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Visualizing a Holistic Community Model – Working Towards it Harmony at All Levels

• It is high time that we start working for actualization of the model of human order at the village level (a Holistic Community Model – gram-swarajya) in the light of right understanding.
• Several groups of people have started working in this direction seriously.
• As a result, many technologies and systems have been evolved even though the full-scale demonstration of such alternative ways of living is yet to emerge.
• There needs to be an increasing and wide spread thrust to evolve holistic technologies and systems through dedicated R&D efforts working within the framework of right understanding

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We will present some details about such a Holistic Community Model– each one of us can try to work out the further details and come up with a working model.

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Some Topics for Case Studies

1. Renewable and Decentralized Energy Technologies (a) Biomass based Energy Conversion systems (b) Gadgets and Implements to facilitate efficient utilization of human muscle power and animal draught power (c) Decentralized Wind power (d) Micro hydel electro-mechanical power generation etc.
2. Systems for water conservation and water shed management for efficient utilization of rain water and for eco-restoration.
3. Technologies and architecture promoting green building materials and energy conservation
4. Organic/natural farming techniques
5. Eco-sanitation techniques for small scale decentralized sewage disposal and waste water recycling
6. Low cost and energy efficient technologies for small scale production systems
7. Humanistic organizational/management models

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Key Takeaways

• Based on right understanding, the guidelines, criteria, examples and case studies about Holistic Technologies, Production Systems and Management Models can be worked out.
• We can also learn from the systems in nature and the traditional practices to evolve a holistic model of living ensuring harmony at all levels.

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Approach to Realising a Humane Society

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Starting Point Traditional Contemporary

Analyse

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A Holistic Community Model – some details for further work

• Average Land (Cultivable) Available in India per person – 0.39 Acre
• Number of persons in a family = 6 -12 (Three generations in a family is desirable for the purpose of education, health, production, etc. )
• Average number of persons in a family - 10
• Number of family in a community is around 100 -150
• Total number of people in village - around 1000
• For a family of 10, Land (Cultivable) Available – 4 Acres
• Average consumption of grain per person per year – 1 quintal
• Average production of grain per acre - 10 quintals per acre per season/ year
• Land required for grain production - 10 quintals / 10 quintal per Acre

– 1 Acre

• Land required for production of oil seeds, vegetables, fruits, etc.

– 1 Acre

• Land required for residence and other production activities – 0.5 Acre
• Remaining land for collective planning – 1.5 Acre

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A Holistic Community Model – some details for further work

• Total land available for village – 400 Acre
• Total land available for community planning – 150 Acre
• Land available for Forest, cattle Grazing, water management (ponds) – 100 Acre
• Roads, community building (School, Hospital), community program area (Sports, cultural functions, community hall) , collective production activity, Market place, Storage units etc. – 50 Acre

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Way of life 🡪 technologies, production systems, management models

Relevant Research

1. Dr. Gopal Babu
2. Dr. Harsh Satya

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Experiments in the Present Time

1. Dayalbagh, Agra
2. Amish (Dutch, USA)
3. Anastasia inspired Communities (Russia)

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A Holistic Community Model – some details for further work

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• Societal activities for which families will be involved -
• Types of production

Cottage & Village industry

Cloth

House construction

Pottery Etc.

• Education
• Health services
• Inter and intra community transactions (exchange)

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There is no need for involving separate family for the purpose of ensuring justice as this can ensured by the representatives of the families in the communities.

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Present State – Profit Maximisation, Domination…

Packaged water Rs. 20/lit Organised sector

Wheat support price Rs. 19/kg Unorganised sector

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Organised Unorganised

Employment 6-15% 85-94%

Production “value” 47% 53%

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