Relavent Paras from the letter from SRC Conference
 

The conference is aimed to give direction for a paradigm shift from the namesake research to obtain the Doctoral degrees to find the indigenous solutions to indigenous problems. These efforts should find the place in the global scientific research. This conference is a beginning for the future continuous efforts to explore the indigenous knowledge systems from the celebrated artisans knowledge system, culture, and tradition in the light of sustainable development and   will be institutionalized for policy making. It explores national roots for global solutions.

For Presentation in the SRC on 16 Feb 2019
PalleSrujana Perspective on traditional systems and Role of Senior Research Fellows

From the Governance perspective, Research in any Nation is meant to improve the quality of life of people of the country. Public Research involves investing public money and therefore the onus on research scholars is that of delivering solutions which would reduce the pains of masses and thereby enhance their happiness levels. We are talking about Application research and not fundamental. How much of research should be Fundamental at Public Institutions should be decided by the eminent scientists of this country.  We do not like to discuss private Research here as it has its own limitations and orientations.
Application research should be oriented to the masses. It should be people centric and nottechnology centric. The way research is promoted at present in various verticals of branches of science, leaves no scope to address problems of people. Problems are a combination of many branches of  science and engineering.  In our view the application research should be problem based and not based on scientific principles or technology.
Traditionally in our country, all knowledge bases grew for the betterment of people. Especially the medicinal systems such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, homeopathy etc have evolved over centuries to provide relief from pain and disease to peopleat their door step. Concept was to reach the patient and not otherwise. Traditional medicine was decentralized on this basis and they used local herbs and other natural resources to treat local diseases. None was denied medical help and no major facility was required to treat people as for small dependency, facilities could be mustered within the habitat through the societal contribution and generosity. Attrition rate of environment was low and dissipated hence those systems had no adverse effect on it.
Concept of Medicine man associating from ‘womb to tomb’ or family doctor approach   was very effective in the olden days. Few countries in the world are still very effectively practicing it such as in Switzerland. This facilitates a great understanding of patient’s attributes to the Doctor. In the present times of high migration, family doctor concept can be seen as a less effective one. It is not so. 80 % of people live in their homes or live in one city even today.
Research is required to converge traditional medicine and health with modern medicine and health.  Lot of work is being done in this area by various private and voluntary organizations. We need formal system to incorporate this into policy and implement over a period of time. Can we provide an option to the people when they come to the hospital for major treatments? Can we explain them the approach to treatment in more than one medicine systems and recommend the most appropriate one for the patient to take a final call. If we can do this, we call it a real evolution of medicine for humans.
By the way, Alternate medicines for us- Indians isAllopathy, Homeopthy while Primary medicine is Ayurveda. Do You agree?
Primary medical help for 80% population is still available in the villages in the form of Herbal Healers. Over 6 lakh such healers are delivering the last mile medicine to the people of this country without any expenditure to the Treasury. We need to support such systems which are available, accessible and affordable to masses by supporting the village based herbal healers through validation, certification, licensing and by providing adequate plants and raw materials to them at their place.
PalleSrujana held three Herbal healers conference inviting around 100 herbal healers form remote areas of both Telugu states and documented their knowledge. We found them very effective and meaningful to understand the issue from the perspective of healers. It also gave an opportunity for horizontal dissemination among the healers. Few patents on the name of healers are under progress. Certification and licensing is being undertaken by PalleSrujana for atleast 50 healers during this year with the help of QCI.
Validation of traditional medicine is a major issue. Who is competent to validate traditional medicines? Research scholars should work on this aspect in collaboration with practicing traditional and folklore medicine people and provide an easy methodology with less cost. In this regard, Dr T Viajay Kumar of IICT, Hyderabad  has done splendid work in the last two decades and his method is approved by Beaurau of Standards, India (BSI).
Traditional systems have a done a lot of work on pregnancy, delivery andpre and post natal care is very lucidly described and practiced in our homes by grandmothers and to some extent their children. This is one area, Research scholars have to focus so that pregnancies are well handled by masses, deliveriesare  mostly natural, preferably in their village, and mother –baby care is based on local conditions and local traditional systems. If we can pay greater attention to the pregnancy and post-delivery to the mother and child through traditional methods, it would be affordable, future generations will be healthier, energetic and results in least strain on the environment. We need to validate this suggestion.
Traditionalism is not restricted to health and medicine. It is all pervasive. Tradition is the snowballed knowledge of centuries of wisdom shared by people of eminence. How can we ignore it by stating that it is outdated and do not get validated by present scientific principles developed in the last few centuries? It is said that “Every old person dies, A library is burnt”, such is the knowledge loss, if we ignore the old.  It will at our peril that we deliberately neglect this wisdom of thousands of years and alsocommit an unpardonable crime of not passing on the inherited knowledge to the next generations.
Agriculture follows lot of tradition. It flourished when tradition was the main guiding principle in farming. When the scientific knowledge was injected, its interventions took farming to an unviable state as exists today, besides providing food to the entire globe with toxins. Entire environment is polluted and we find water scarce. Earth entered a negative spiral where we need to live, therefore we eat, and hence we produce, thus use chemicals, etc. Research scholars need to examine the ways and means to reinstate the traditional methods which were eco-friendly and people friendly yet sustained the environment and provided a healthier climate and food.
In every village, technical support teams existed which provided all the technology needs of the village for its livelihood activity. Villages were self-sufficient in creating technologies, customizing, operating and maintaining them. What was needed was created and left the environment unstressed. Research scholars should strive to get back such systems and technologies so that self- reliance of villages is brought back in full. All technological needs have to be provided preferably with local resources and locally available technologies. As ‘Nature is customized and Technology is standardized’ it is always preferred that solution crated should be based on smaller geographies with common conditions for maximum effectiveness. This is the challenge to research scholars. They should spread out and carry out research for a geographical area rather than for the whole mankind or for a disease. This we feel is imperative irrespective of sectors like health, handlooms, fisheries, farming, goat keeping, processing of farm produce and even education.
PalleSrujana had an interesting experience. Syed Subhani a grassroots innovator has developed many customized solutions for spraying on different crops. When we published his story in our Telugu bimonthly magazine “PalleSrujana” and provided his contact, a village in Khammamdist of Telangana invited him to their village. The villagers tasked the innovator to make a sprayer conceptualized by them for their customized need. Innovators stayed back in the village for one month and gave them what the villagers want. It was a win- win situation as need was of the villagers, funds were provided by them, it was their conceptual design based on unique needs and the development of the sprayer was done by the innovators. We need such ‘deep dive’ activity by research scholars and engineers for the masses. We need to evolve models customized to our diversity and uniqueness. Blindly following the research structures from West have yielded minimal results so far and we stand nowhere.
With its association with villagers for the last 13 years, PalleSrujana can provide topics for research which would result in solutions to theproblems of masses. Please do contact us. If you wish to know the problems of people firsthand, walk with us into the unknown villages by participating in “ChinnaShodhayatra”. Details of our activity are given out in our website www.pallesrujana.org
Yes. What is required is not only a paradigm shift but Turn Around in the approach to Research in our country. Nation is waiting for that tipping point. Only you have to give what Nation wants. None can.
A famous Telugu poet said “DeshamantemattikadoyDeshamantemanushuloyi”. 
Raise and Let us pledge to work for the People and only for the PeopleAlways and Everytime.

PalleSrujana Team
February 2019
www.pallesrujana.org