Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar is one of India’s most Eminent Scientists….Known for his contributions to India’s National Chemical Laboratory and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, multiple ‘Mashelkar Committees’, and a successful campaign against foreign Patents on Indian Traditional Knowledge.
His mantras of ‘Inclusive Innovation’, ‘More from Less for More’, and ‘Gandhian Engineering’ have been the constant source of inspiration. He himself calls him the ‘Dangerous’ Optimistic…and true to the Optimism… he has heralded ‘Innovation Revolution’ in India…
We Salute him, as On 1st Jan 2023 Dr Mashelkar turns just 80…
Wave of Innovation
‘We will no longer talk of the history of science, we will talk of the geography of science with the emergence of India’ said Dr Mashelkar in a talk at MIT
He was futuristic then… but now India is emerging as a global platform for R&D. The man who started this wave of Innovation is RA Mashelkar.
Childhood
As a boy, who went barefoot to school is now India’s best-known scientist…
promoting and defending India’s scientific interests. It is a miraculous inspiring journey…
Born in a place called Mashel in Goa, his father passed away when he was just six … his mother came to Mumbai in search of a livelihood and with very difficult childhood his mother raised him up…
His mother is his constant source of inspiration, he went to a Municipal School, the School was not great but it had very great teachers.. moulding him… In SSC examination he stood 11th in the Board without any guides and classes…
Dr Mashelkar was awarded Sir Dorab Tata Scholarship of Rs 60 a month for six years. Which he admits that made his life… and India got a great Scientist
Higher Education
Motivated by the bright future for the Chemical Industry in India, he joined UDCT , now the ICT, Mumbai to pursue his Chemical Engineering. He continued his work at UDCT as a Post-Graduate student under the mentorship of Prof. MM Sharma.
Impressed with Prof MM Sharma. He is got the guru. He completed his PhD under the guidance of Dr Sharma finishing his thesis in just three years… he was equally inspired by his mother that he would do higher studies
He moved to the University of Salford, UK. His outstanding work earned him a fellowship at Salford University. His guide encouraged him to work in an unrelated field of rheology. Dr. Mashelkar took up the challenge and over the time, he made a name for himself as a distinguished Indian researcher.
Tuning Point
While completing Post-Doc he was picked up by Dr Y Nayudamma, the then Director General of CSIR, who was sent to the UK by Mrs Indira Gandhi, to pick the best and brightest students and to offer them jobs in India.
Dr Nayudamma talked to him about emerging India… and responding to nations call Dr Mashelkar joined NCL… this was the Turning Point in his life…and the rest is history..
Change maker
Dr Mashelkar Emerged as a leading Polymer Engineer and became the Director of NCL in 1989. In India the Scientist were doing reverse Engineering , Copying the discoveries and Imitating the west.
He decided to transform the scenario… He dreamt that the National Chemical Lab should become International Chemical Laboratory… To be a world leader Indian Innovation should stand alone and it should be patented. NCL was established in 1950 and had not a single patent till then…
Mantra of Success
Dr Mashelkar’s mantra was ‘Not Publish or Perish but Patent, Publish and Prosper’ changed the mindset…
The fight of the Basmati and Haldi Patents came later. Dr Mashelkar Pioneered the Pathway inculcating the new changed mindset about how to Create and Protect Knowledge in National Interest.
Dr. Mashelkar is probably best known through his crusade against the US Patents on Turmeric, Neem and Basmati Rice. Dr. Mashelkar fought a long legal battle to revoke the Patents and emerged victorious, he is fondly called as ‘The Warrior of Haldighati’.
Reforms
Dr Mashelkar propagated ‘Skill-Based Competition’. critical part in Competition is what Skills you have, from what sources and how quickly you can put it all together to create a new product. He propagated the concept of doing research in a Business like Manner. Still Dr Mashelkar feels that The change has been too slow. Hope things will move faster…
Contributions
Throughout his career, he has written 25 Books, 284 Research Papers, and has been awarded honorary Doctorates by 44 Universities from India and abroad. He has also actively served the Government of India by chairing 12 highly empowered ‘Mashelkar Committees’, and has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.
Honours
His contributions to the Nation and to Science at large have been honoured by a plethora of awards, the most significant being the Padma Vibhushan, the Padma Bhushan, the Padma Shri, the Business Week Star of Asia Award, and the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology.
He is only the third Indian Engineer to be inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society, UK and the First Indian to be elected as a Fellow of National Academy of Inventors, US.
We wish him on his 80th Birthday…and pledge to take his Innovation Revolution ahead..
-Dr Siddhivinayak Barve
Editor, ‘ScienceNow’
