User:Indigentwiki/Mohamamd Mansur-ul Hoda

Mohammed Mansur-ul Hoda: M. M. Hoda (1930 - 2001)was born in a middle class Muslim family in eastern Indian state of Bihar. M.M. Hoda as a student, had worked as a research volunteer for the Intermediate Technology Group, had 10 years' experience with Indian railways and 10 years as a factory inspector in Bihar.

In 1965, Fritz Schumacher  in an article published in The Observer, had advocated for the transfer of modern, capital-intensive and large-scale technologies to poor developing countries lacking technical skills or mass markets to accommodate them. He argued that there should be a shift in emphasis towards 'Intermediate Technologies' based on the needs and skills possessed by the people of developing countries.Encouraged by this Schumacher and a few of his associates, including George McRobie, Alfred Latham-Koenig and Mohammed Mansur-ul Hoda, decided to create an 'advisory centre' to promote the use of efficient labour-intensive techniques and in 1966 the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) - now known as Practical Action - was born.

In 1968, along with his brother Surur, and helped by Schumacher, he formed the India Development Group UK, which runs rural development programmes in India with the help of the Indian business community in Britain.

In 1972, Hoda was invited by Jayaprakash Narayan, the leading Gandhian in India, to run the Appropriate Technology unit at the Gandhian Institute in Varanasi. Schumacher travelled with him to deliver a series of lectures, and, in 1976, the unit was enlarged and moved to Lucknow, with Hoda as its first director.

It worked on a number of rural technologies, including cotton spinning, renewable energy (solar cooker and biogas) and cycle ricksaw transport. It became internationally known for its development of improved mini sugar factories, and an efficient 20-ton-a-day cement plant, using local raw material and making high-quality Portland cement.

Hoda's great influence was Fritz Schumacher, who wrote Small Is Beautiful. M.M. Hoda was convinced by Schumacher's concept of Intermediate Technology or Appropriate technology - something between the sickle and the combine harvester, the hoe and the tractor - as the only feasible solution to the problems of massive unemployment that haunted India and other developing countries.

In 1983, M. M. Hoda set up the Gandhi Foundation in London. He returned to India to set up the Schumacher Institute of Appropriate Technology in Lucknow, training young people from the villages in the management of micro-enterprises and rural skills, such as primary healthcare, maintenance and the repair of scooters, farm equipment and pumps. This work continues to be supported by British and European Union aid.

Books
Problems of unemployment in India