Using case studies from India this book presents a conceptual model of commercialization of rural technologies in developing countries. It concludes that India has not placed enough emphasis on ensuring the efficiency of small-scale production units.

Preface viii
List of abbreviations x
list of tables xii
List of figures xiii
Notes on the contributors xiv
INTRODUCTION A.S. BHALLA and AMULYA K.N. REDDY 1
Technological transformation 2
The Indian rural economy 5
Some salient features of case studies 10
Scope of the volume 16
PART ONE: CONCEPTS, ISSUES AND POLICIES
1. The commercialization of improved technologies in
rural areas
K.N. KRISHNASWAMY and AMULYA K.N. REDDY 23
Interactions between technology and society in mixed
market/non-market economies 24
Classification of rural technologies from the viewpoint
of commercialization 28
A model of commercialization of rural technology 30
Barriers to commercialization 35
Concluding remarks 42
2. Effective design and diffusion of rural technologies
ASHOK KHOSLA 44
Traditional technology 45
Frontier technology 46
Appropriate technology 48
Sources of innovation 50
Adapting technologies 51
Organizational initiatives for innovation 57
Conclusion 62
Appendix: The technology package 62
3. Policies for rural industries and rural technologies
DEVENDRA B. GUPTA 64
Rural industrialization 64
An assessment of government programmes and policies 70
Programmes 71
Policies 76
Rural industry and technology policy 83
Conclusion 85
4. Institutional aspects of the diffusion of renewable
energy technologies
R. BHATIA 87
The diffusion of renewable energy technologies: an analytical
framework 88
Renewable energy programmes in India 91
Organizations involved in energy questions 96
The role of institutions in technology diffusion 100
Institutional innovations for improved implementation 106
Conclusion 110
PART TWO: CASE STUDIES
5. Experiences of the Khadi and Village Industries
Commission in technology transfer
YASHWANT A. PANDITRAO 113
Origin of the KVIC and fields of activity 114
The role of KVIC in research and development and technology
transfer 116
Lessons from the KVIC experience 130
6. The role of non-governmental organizations in the
diffusion of rural technologies
DEVENDRA KUMAR 133
Sources of technology for NGOs 133
How NGOs select rural technologies for diffusion 135
Experience of NGOs engaged in rural technology dissemination 136
The role of training 141
Conclusion 142
7. The diffusion of biogas systems
R. BHATIA, R. LICHTMAN, A. PEREIRA and W. TENTSCHER 145
Technical and economic status of biogas systems 145
India's National Project on Biogas Development (NPBD) 148
Rethinking the NPBD's diffusion policy 159
Conclusions 161
8. The Pura community biogas plant (Karnataka)
K.N. KRISHNASWAMY and AMULYA K.N. REDDY 164
The experience at Pura 165
Individual versus collective initiatives 169
Conclusion 172
9. The ASTRA stove (Karnataka)
K.N. KRISHNASWAMY and AMULYA K.N. REDDY 174
The origin of the ASTRA stove 174
The ASTRA stove technology 175
The idea generation phase 178
The research, development and design phase 181
The dissemination phase 181
An evaluation of the large-scale diffusion programme 186
Implications of the ASTRA stove experiment for technology
generation and dissemination 188
10. Mini grain mills
K.N. KRISHNASWAMY and AMULYA K.N. REDDY 190
The limitations of Western technology 190
Alternative technology 192
Design criteria and cost considerations 193
The dissemination of mini grain mills 196
Conclusion 200
11. The small-scale farm machinery industry in Uttar
Pradesh
S.C. MISHRA 201
The industrial economy of Uttar Pradesh 201
The farm machinery survey 203
Technological change in the Uttar Pradesh farm machinery
industry 214
Marketing agricultural machinery 217
Conclusions and policy implications 219
Notes and references 222
Selective bibliography 231
Index 235

A. Reddy
Amulya Reddy is President of the International Energy Initiative, and a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, Global Environment Facility, World Bank, Washington, DC. Formerly he was Chairman of the Department of Management Studies, and Professor at the Centre for the Application of Science and Technology to Rural Areas (ASTRA) at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

A S Bhalla
A S Bhalla is Chief of the Employment Strategies Branch, International Labour Office, Geneva. Previously he was Chief, Technology and Employment Branch, ILO; Hallsworth Professorial Fellow in Economics at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom; visiting Research Associate at the Economic Growth Center, Yale University; Research Officer at the Institute of Economics and Statistics, Oxford University; and University Tutorial Fellow at the University of Delhi.