Innovation, can I too innovate ??

Innovation : what is it ??

This has been a question haunting me for years. Is innovation only for the clear and sharp minded ? What is the problem if I continue doing the usual monotonous things ? How will innovation benefit me, in my work, at my workplace ? Can it make me a better individual ? Does it help to motivate others to work better and smarter ?

I came across this simple definition to Innovation from www.johnstark,com - Innovation has occured when any aspect of a product, process or service provides an improved solution to a need. If the clerk in the bank where I go fir banking come up with forms which have been partially filled with dates for customers, I would say she has innovated. Incremental innovation is different from radical innovation. If one keeps a positive mind to innovate continuously, he/she can think of incremental innovation in he product or process or service he/she is carrying out.

We always have some need or the other, need for a product, a process to manufacture a product or carry out a task or service. We satisfy this need by some means by offering some solution. If we succeed in giving an improved solution to this need, then we are innovating.

Why do we innovate ?

The need for innovation is felt when we are under pressure to improve the output, reduce the costs, penetrate the market by offering a better product to the customer in terms of quality, reliability and maintainability, increased demand and less production capacity ( more items needed from a limited production capacity) , increased demand for a particular service ( more customers coming to a bank for withdrawing cash) and so on. Unless there is pressure we would not worry about innovation. Constant innovation by implementing new and updated technologies is another way by which companies are able to raise their output or productivity or reduce inputs. 

Can Innovation be a way of life ?

Yes, very much. If we understand what are the steps involved in innovating, we can carefully follow those steps and begin our very first steps in innovation.

Different stages of Innovation
Need to innovate : In our daily life we come across many situations where we have felt the need to do things and have products performing better. This is the basic urge which is the moving force behind any process of innovation.

Idea creation - come up with a idea on how to improve the product or process or service from the existing method. Unless one is open to listening to other people, watching others perform, being appreciative of others, we cannot really get any good idea of innovation.Having good empathy of the customer need in a product, process or service will help one to be very effective in generating new ideas.

Development  The next step involves transforming the idea into a practical proposition. This may involve thinking over and over again, regarding the inputs which go into it, the outputs, possible opposition, possible hurdles in implementation, top management support, public acceptance and so on. The idea will undergo major changes at this stages of iteration.

Commercialization  Once the idea has been developed into a pratical idea, seeing through its implementation and potential benefits is very important. Because ideas can remain brilliant and still remain on drawing boards unless they are put into action. This is a very critical area.


George Easaw PhD

Obituary on Benazir Bhutto from BBC ..

Obituary: Benazir Bhutto

Ms Bhutto had a volatile political career BBC interviews Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics, and both of them died because of it - he was executed in 1979, she fell victim to an apparent suicide bomb attack.

Her two brothers also suffered violent deaths.

Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's most famous political dynasties. Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was prime minister of Pakistan in the early 1970s.

His government was one of the few in the 30 years following independence that was not run by the army.

Born in 1953 in the province of Sindh and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Ms Bhutto gained credibility from her father's high profile, even though she was a reluctant convert to politics.

She was twice prime minister of Pakistan, from 1988 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1996.

Stubbornness

On both occasions she was dismissed from office by the president for alleged corruption.

The dismissals typified her volatile political career, which was characterised by numerous peaks and troughs. At the height of her popularity - shortly after her first election - she was one of the most high-profile women leaders in the world.

Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the overwhelmingly male-dominated political establishment.

But after her second fall from power, her name came to be seen by some as synonymous with corruption and bad governance.

Asif Zardari has faced numerous corruption charges

The determination and stubbornness for which Ms Bhutto was renowned was first seen after her father was imprisoned by Gen Zia ul-Haq in 1977, following a military coup. Two years later he was executed after a much criticised trial on charges of conspiring to murder a political opponent.

Ms Bhutto was imprisoned just before her father's death and spent most of her five-year jail term in solitary confinement. She described the conditions as extremely hard.

During stints out of prison for medical treatment, Ms Bhutto set up a Pakistan People's Party office in London, and began a campaign against General Zia.

She returned to Pakistan in 1986, attracting huge crowds to political rallies.

After Gen Zia died in an explosion on board his aircraft in 1988, she became one of the first democratically elected female prime ministers in an Islamic country.

Corruption charges

During both her stints in power, the role of Ms Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, proved highly controversial.

He played a prominent role in both her administrations, and has been accused by various Pakistani governments of stealing millions of dollars from state coffers - charges he denies, as did Ms Bhutto herself.

Many commentators argued that the downfall of Ms Bhutto's government was accelerated by the alleged greed of her husband.

None of about 18 corruption and criminal cases against Mr Zardari has been proved in court after 10 years. But he served at least eight years in jail.

He was freed on bail in 2004, amid accusations that the charges against him were weak and going nowhere.

Ms Bhutto also steadfastly denied all the corruption charges against her, which she said were politically motivated.

She faced corruption charges in at least five cases, all without a conviction, until amnestied in October 2007.

President Pervez Musharraf granted Ms Bhutto and others an amnesty

She was convicted in 1999 for failing to appear in court, but the Supreme Court later overturned that judgement.

Soon after the conviction, audiotapes of conversations between the judge and some top aides of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were discovered that showed that the judge had been under pressure to convict.

Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999 to live abroad, but questions about her and her husband's wealth continued to dog her.

She appealed against a conviction in the Swiss courts for money-laundering.

During her years outside Pakistan, Ms Bhutto lived with her three children in Dubai, where she was joined by her husband after he was freed in 2004.

She was a regular visitor to Western capitals, delivering lectures at universities and think-tanks and meeting government officials.

Army mistrust

Ms Bhutto returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007 after President Musharraf signed into law an ordinance granting her and others an amnesty from corruption charges.

Observers said the military regime saw her as a natural ally in its efforts to isolate religious forces and their surrogate militants.

She declined a government offer to let her party head the national government after the 2002 elections, in which the party received the largest number of votes.

In the months before her death, she had emerged again as a strong contender for power.

Some in Pakistan believe her secret talks with the military regime amounted to betrayal of democratic forces as these talks shored up President Musharraf's grip on the country.

Others said such talks indicated that the military might at long last be getting over its decades-old mistrust of Ms Bhutto and her party, and interpreted it as a good omen for democracy.

Western powers saw in her a popular leader with liberal leanings who could bring much needed legitimacy to Mr Musharraf's role in the "war against terror".

Unhappy family

Benazir Bhutto was the last remaining bearer of her late father's political legacy.

Her brother, Murtaza - who was once expected to play the role of party leader - fled to the then-communist Afghanistan after his father's fall.

From there, and various Middle Eastern capitals, he mounted a campaign against Pakistan's military government with a militant group called al-Zulfikar.

He won elections from exile in 1993 and became a provincial legislator, returning home soon afterwards, only to be shot dead under mysterious circumstances in 1996.

Benazir's other brother, Shahnawaz - also politically active but in less violent ways than Murtaza - was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in 1985.

Pak Opposition Leader Benazir goes off ...

Quite sad and tragic. A burning torch of democracy is gone from us.

In about two weeks time there would have been a major change for democracy in Pakistan if Gen Musharraf had no plans to rig the elections in his favour. But fate had it another way.

She was brave and was the real promise for Pakistan to get back to democracy. Even though she and her husband were accused of bribery and corruption charges, she braved against all odds and returned to Pakistan. In the very firsy meeting itself in the first explosion about 140 people were killed.

She was not provided enough security, that is what we need to conclude. She did not die of bullet wounds but while ducking the bullets, the shock of the explosion was so much that her head banged against a lever of the window through which she made her appearance.

Sad for Pakistan and democracy ..



ge..

St Pius X,कुत्तिकनाम,मरियन ऎंड MBC ..

Here are the snaps of St Pius X School, Kuttikanam, Marian College, Kuttikanam and Mar Baselios Xian College of Engg and Tech, Kuttikanam ( run by the Malankara Orthodox church), in that order..

ge..

Daughter and our dog , Silky ..

Silky, 1 year old  ..

Chinnu and Silky ..

Here is the snap of our Labrador Retriever female dog, Silky, taken at Peermade, Kerala on 26 Dec 2007.

The second snap is of Susan, our daughter with Silky. Susan is in the third standard in St Pius, Kuttikanam, Peermade. Silky is Susan's pet and Susan loves Silky very much ..

Silky is a pure breed Labrador Retriever, one year old, desert cream colour purchased from a dog breeder in Calicut, Kerala.

ge..

Trip to Mullaperiyar dam, Xmas day, 2007 and boating..

Deer grazing i

an eagle perched on an old tree branch..

A bison ..

It was exactly a year back during the Christmas of 2006 that we went to Thekkady in Kerala, across the river Periyar, with the hope of going for a boat ride.. But the tourist rush was very heavy and we had to return after just seeing the monkeys, horses and so on. My co-brother Biju, sunila and kids also were with us. All had to return disappointed.

But that was not how the Xmas of 2007 was going to be. Invited by our neighbour Adv Sabu Thomas, we went out to Thekkady and this is the catchment area of Mullaperiyar dam.

At 3.30 PM in the boat jetty at Thekkady we met our host Adv Sabu Thomas, whom we thought had missed on the way from Peermade to Thekkady in the afternoon of 25 Dec 2007. Sabu and wife Maya then herded all of us, his friends and relatives too, to the entrance of the jetty. Adv Sabu Thomas has been winning a lot of cases in Kerala for the Tamil Nadu govt and he is their silver eyed boy. He gets royal treatment in Periyar sanctuary - in the bargain we too

We got into the small boat, about 15 seater of the Tamil Nadu PWD dept and were off on our wild animal view trip royally. The driver of the boat Murali was eager to point us to the herds of deers, bisons, wild boars, tortoises, otters, the water birds and its nests with baby birds inside it. The stubs of trees which were submerged about 112 years back provided the stem for the birds to make these majestic nests in the midst of water. A royal trip of about 10 nautical miles right upto the Mullaperiyar dam. There were lot of things which I did not know of. It was very pleasant sitting next to the driver of the boat and asking him all sorts of doubts and questions, like a child asking it's parents. It was an inquisitive session getting to clear all doubts which would help me write this blog very accurately.

It was in 1884, Penny Cuic, an Irish gentleman, who was working with the British govt who first spotted the potential of the Periyar wildlife sanctuary and planned the project to dam the river ( even though the concept of using it for power generation came later). PennyCuic's intention was to dam the Periyar river and use it for irrigating the water scare parts of Tamil Nadu and protect the wild life around it for posterity. The project conceived in 1885 got over in 1895 costing about rupees forty three lacs of rupees ( about Rs 1000crores in present value).

Unlike the Iduki dam built by the Canadians, the Periyar dam, has the dam and the sluice gates for letting out the water separate. While going in the boat we could first sight the sluice gates, through which water is released to TamilNadu and then the dam which stores the water. The reservoir varies in it's depth from 30 feet at the boat landing to 130 feet near the dam. When we went the water was about 134 feet. At 138 ft the sluice gates are opened. Else this is great risk for the 112 year old dam built using limestone.

This is the main point of contention between the governments of TN and Kerala. Kerala wants to protect the wildlife sanctuary and the people living downstream while TN wants the dam to raise the water level and store more water to be used in the summer months to irrigate agricultural lands right upto Madurai. Even after many Supreme court cases, the issue has been left to Kerala and TN governments to decide among themselves by discussions. See the predicament of Tamil Nadu, it has to fight with Karnataka for water from Cauvery and with Kerala for water from the Periyar, what a sad state of affairs !! But compared to all other South Indian states Tamil Nadu is one of the most fast developing states. That speaks about the enterprise of the people there..

The water in the dam is spread over 10.21 sq miles while the forests are over 770 sq
miles. The catchment area of the dam is about 220 sq miles. Before being submerged, the Periyar area was dense forest. The tall trees which got submerged in the water even today stand up in the water, telling it's story of a hundred and twelve years under water plus it's another forty fifty years above water !! How many people and boats has it seen and how many rains and summer has it weathered?


ThePeriyar sanctuary is also an elephant preserve. Elephants come down from the forest to the&nbsp ; water side during summer months to drink water. We were unlucky in December, but our boat driver was telling us how just two days back he was fortunate enough to see eight elephants swimming across the reservoir, from one end to the other, right in front of the boat.

After an hour of boating, we werefortunate enough to go right upto the Mullaperiyar dam, usually visitors are not taken up to that point, we returned to our starting point. By 5.30  PM we were back in our car heading back for home. It was a memorable trip.

There are two places in Idukki district which I wanted to visit badly, Munnar and Mullapriyar. Mullaperiyar I have already done now, only Munnar is remaining. Having come to Idukki I would have felt real bad if I had not visited even one of these places.

The kids were eagerly looking for an outing during their Xmas holidays and Anila and I were so happy that we could take them for this unforgettable boating experience. Snaps and video clips will follow on this site as soon as I am able to download them from our canon digicam.

If you find the information given here was good enough to motivate you to plan the next holiday to Thekkady, do drop me a line to collect more details.

George..

Xmas celebrations at XIME.. 20 Dec 2007.

(The choir members - back row L to R, Neethu, Oliver, Vineeta, Shana and Priyanka, front row L to R, Preethi, Sukanya, Sue Ann, Shirisha, Miriam and Anju, the guitarist Anoop Samuel and me too..)

20 Dec 2007 was the day when Economics paper got over for the first year students at XIME. And it was the right day for them to celebrate Xmas with their friends and faculty.

The students were practicing the xmas carols for the past one week and were eagerly waiting for this day.

Finally at 4.30 PM , the President Prof Philip, Mrs Philip, Secretary Kuncheria and Mrs Kuncheria and Director Prof Panduranga Rao along with other faculty members and students got together in the auditorium.

The carol group started their songs.

All the usual numbers were there. After the cake cutting the carols continued. The favourite of the day was the masala dosa for the students. An automatic machine was brought from the city, which could make 6 dosas in 2 minutes.  Students had as much as three or four per student, no dinner please !!

It was a very enjoyable evening, with santa claus around, added to the cheer of the students.

The youngsters were very jolly and refreshed after the programme.



george..