Anil K Rajvanshi
This is the podcast of Dr. Anil K Rajvanshi (https://nariphaltan.org/shortbio.pdf). He is currently the Director and Hon. Secretary of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) (https://nariphaltan.org). He has more than 43 years of experience in renewable energy R&D and rural development. He did his B.Tech and M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from I.I.T. Kanpur in 1972 and 1974 respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Mech. Engg. from University of Florida, Gainesville, USA in 1979. He was also on the faculty of University of Florida (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering) for 2.5 years before returning to India in 1981 to work at NARI. Anil Rajvanshi is a spiritual engineer! A mechanical engineering graduate of IIT Kanpur in early 1970s he went to U.S. for higher studies. In a fit of madness and arrogance, he left a very lucrative career in U.S. and came back in 1981 to rural India thinking that he will change India! India did not change but he changed. In the process of developing renewable energy technologies for rural areas he discovered himself and the great spiritual traditions of India. He runs a small rural NGO called Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute in Phaltan, Maharashtra and has a passion of writing articles on spirituality and rural development. His articles have been published in Times of India (Speaking Tree); Huffington Post and Thrive Global, South Asia Monitor and syndicated in various other News lines. He has 5 books to his credit and has written more than 250 articles on rural and sustainable development including the interface of spirituality and technology. He is passionate about teaching youngsters and gives inspirational lectures all over India and some abroad. His mantra is Spirituality + Technology = Happiness and lives in a simple and holistic way in rural India.
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Episodes
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
This is chapter 2 titled "The Preparation" from the book "1970s America - An Indian students journey" Dr. Rajvanshi talks about the various processes he had to go through to get his passport, visa, tickets, foreign exchange etc.
This book narrates the story of a young idealistic student of IIT Kanpur who in 1974 at the age of 24 went to USA to pursue higher education. He left a very lucrative career in US to come back and work in rural India in 1981 and in the process of developing technologies for rural applications discovered himself. Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi has written in an engaging and lively style the memoirs of his stay and experiences in America as a student and as a faculty in the 1970s. It is an inspiring story and should appeal to all Indians including non-resident Indians (NRIs) and students aspiring to go abroad and who want to make a difference in India, especially rural India.The whole book is available at https://nariphaltan.org/usexpwithphotos.pdf
Dr. Rajvanshi will narrate in these podcasts his experiences in US and what made him come back to rural India. In late 1981 when Dr. Rajvanshi returned, rarely any Indian with an IIT degree came back. Even the few who did come back went to big cities like Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore etc. He went straight to rural Maharashtra which was as alien to him as any foreign country since he hardly knew the local language or the milieu! Why did he do it and was it worth it? This fascinating podcast will talk about it.
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
This is chapter 1 titled "Government of India scholarship" from the book "1970s Aerica - An India students journey" Dr. Rajvanshi talks about what kindled his desire to go to US, Why he choose the University of Florida and the struggles he faced in the application process and to get the scholarship to go to US.
This books narrates the story of a young idealistic student of IIT Kanpur who in 1974 at the age of 24 went to USA to pursue higher education. He left a very lucrative career in US to come back and work in rural India in 1981 and in the process of developing technologies for rural applications discovered himself. Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi has written in an engaging and lively style the memoirs of his stay and experiences in America as a student and as a faculty in the 1970s. It is an inspiring story and should appeal to all Indians including non-resident Indians (NRIs) and students aspiring to go abroad and who want to make a difference in India, especially rural India.The whole book is available at https://nariphaltan.org/usexpwithphotos.pdf
Dr. Rajvanshi will narrate in these podcasts his experiences in US and what made him come back to rural India. In late 1981 when Dr. Rajvanshi returned, rarely any Indian with an IIT degree came back. Even the few who did come back went to big cities like Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore etc. He went straight to rural Maharashtra which was as alien to him as any foreign country since he hardly knew the local language or the milieu! Why did he do it and was it worth it? This fascinating podcast will talk about it.
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
This is the podcast of Dr. Anil Rajvanshi interview in English/Hindi on Khulke.com a platform to engage youth in a meaningful dialogue on various issues of the country.Dr. Rajvanshi was interviewed on 27th December by Nancy Narang - a talented and dynamic moderator of Khulke. The interview covered topics like how to motivate students to stay in India; what made Anil Rajvanshi come back to India; what are the challenges that Anil faced while working in rural India and what message Anil has for the youth of today.
Monday Dec 18, 2023
Monday Dec 18, 2023
This is the podcast of the Institute Lecture given by Dr. Anil Rajvanshi at IIT Bombay on 4th December 2023. The lecture was titled: Innovative Water Technologies - Possibilities for Rural Applications. The introduction was by Dr. Shobha Shukla. The lecture was organized in conjunction with the 3rd International Conference on Water Technologies organized by IIT Bombay. Dr. Anil Rajvanshi also gave the inaugural address at the conference. The conference was organized by Dr. Shobha Shukla and Dr. Sumit Saxena.
Friday Dec 01, 2023
Friday Dec 01, 2023
This is a podcast of the Institute lecture on Deep Science in Patanjali Yoga Sutras given by Dr. Anil K Rajvanshi in 9th November 2023 at IIT Kanpur.The video of the lecture is available here.The lecture is based on the booklet on Patanjali that Dr. Rajvanshi has published. It can be accesed here.
Tuesday Nov 28, 2023
Tuesday Nov 28, 2023
Dr. Anil Rajvanshi, a distinguished alumni of IIT Kanpur gave an Institute lecture on Patanjali Yoga Sutras at IIT Kanpur on 9th November 2023. During his visit to the campus he was interviewed by Media Cell of IITK regarding his work and proposed Center of Excellence for high tech systems in rural areas.This is a podcast of that interview. The video of the interview is here.
Thursday Nov 02, 2023
Thursday Nov 02, 2023
Dr. Anil K Rajvanshi was invited as chief guest to HAL, Nasik in Otober 2023. The ocassion was the Vigilance Awareness Week program at HAL.The talk was entitled : Ethics of Work - How to be a Good Citizen.The talk was well received and Dr. Rajvanshi had the ocassion of visiting the HAL facilities and interacting with the officers and staff.
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
This is a podcast of discussion that Dr. Anil Rajvanshi had in October 2023 with the students of Kirori Mal College, Delhi University.The original podcast is available on their website TRT Unspoken.
Monday Oct 09, 2023
Monday Oct 09, 2023
This is a talk given by Dr. Anil Rajvanshi on 6th October 2023 to senior citizens of Nightingale Medical Trust, Bangalore.The talk was organized by Mrs. Usha Prasad.
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
This is an invited lecture that Dr. Anil Rajvanshi, Director of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute gave to freshman students at NICMAR University, Pune on 25th July 2023.The lecture was followed by questions and answer session.
Anil Rajvanshi
This is a podcast of Anil Rajvanshi. Most of these will be on the interplay of technology and spirituality. This is the theme of his work.