Turning out gadgets for a $2-a-day multitude

I loved the last few lines of the article: "MBA students, who 10 years ago said they wanted wealth, now say, teach me to make a difference".

But it's not just MBAs. Technologists and innovators have done simple things that have made a big difference. The article talks about a few of them:

- Drip irrigation was invented to water fields in an economical way: do not flood, only release water whereever required. A great step, but it was unaffordable by poor farmers. Along comes innovation, don't use pumps, use gravity. The prices dropped, and this improved farm produce by three times - an enough margin to propel farmers from the lower income class into the middle class.

- A straw was invented with seven layers of filters, which purified the water and even made regular standing pond water drinkable.

- A solar powered lighting system allowed artisans and craftsmen to work late hours in the night as well, increasing productivity and income. Solar rechargable LED lamps became a substitute for fume producing kerosene lamps.

- Bicycle extenders allowed loads of up to 100kg to be carried to and from villages.

These are not all. There are many more innovations, but they need to be popularized by appropriate technology transfer. Hopefully, we will be able to collect enough information as a part of Udai to facilitate this process.