Thursday 22nd Octobber, 2026
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in West Bengal State has set an uplifting example. It has taken technology to the streets by developing a solar-powered food vending cart complete with digital payment facilities, allowing street vendors to move from one location to another easily without having to occupy public spaces permanently, according to a news item published in this newspaper today. Mounted on a three-wheeler, the vending machine was unveiled recently at the institute.
India reportedly has around 10 million street vendors, although the number officially identified by the Indian government is considerably lower. The IIT’s smart cart initiative, if implemented nationwide, will benefit millions of vendors, and give a big fillip to street vending, which is an important component of India’s informal economy. India has placed much emphasis on developing this particular sector for economic and political reasons, as evident from India’s PM SVANNidhi microcredit scheme, which has reportedly benefited about 6.8 million street vendors.
The smart cart initiative represents a new paradigm in grassroots development. Universities and other higher education institutions are more than seats of advanced learning. They have a vital role to play as enablers of innovation and development by bridging the gap between scientific research and practical applications, which help countries achieve progress. As we pointed out in a previous editorial comment, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has revealed that universities played a central role in the development of the Global North by producing the educated workforce, scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers, administrators and other professionals needed to build modern economies and strong public institutions. They also became major centres of basic and applied research, generating knowledge that helped drive industrialisation, technological innovation and productivity. The OECD notes that universities in most developed economies remain major providers of research and important contributors to the development of new technologies.
In a world marked by stark inequalities, where nearly half the population exists on less than US$ 8.30 a day, and one in ten people lives in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank, there is an urgent need for development initiatives that benefit those at the bottom of the income pyramid. This is something countries, such as Sri Lanka, ought to take cognisance of.
E. F. Schumacher’s philosophy, ‘small is beautiful’, reminds us that national development must not be measured solely by the size of investments or mega projects. It must also be judged by how effectively development reaches communities at the grassroots level, creates local employment and improves people’s lives. Sadly, even in the Global South, development has come to mean mega projects.
Governments in the developing world do not seem to have realised ‘the power of simple solutions’ or ‘ingenious simplicity’. In Sri Lanka, making low-cost solar-powered burners widely available may help address issues caused by cooking gas prices and shortages. But successive governments have ignored calls for such viable, cost-effective alternatives. Worryingly, the incumbent government stands accused of discouraging rooftop solar power generation, which has benefited many ordinary citizens and can help reduce the country’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Encouraging the use of electric vehicles and solar power generation through incentives, at the community level, will help curtail the country’s ever-increasing fuel bill and curb air pollution.
Simple technological solutions may also help solve other seemingly intractable problems. Sri Lanka, which spends colossal amounts of state funds on collecting wet kitchen waste and transporting it to overflowing dumps, should explore the development of a low-cost machine that mechanically grinds and squeezes household food scraps. Such a device could help each and every household, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas, reduce the weight, leakage and volume of waste requiring collection, while preparing the solid residue for composting.
Adopting innovative approaches can go a long way towards solving many complex problems. It requires a concerted national effort to bring higher education institutions, scientific and technological communities and other stakeholders together to meet this challenge. The smart cart project by IIT Kharagpur offers a promising example; the food vending machine project is to be integrated with the institute’s SETU Cloud Kitchen Connect platform, which aims to provide vendors with digital identification, QR-based access, cashless payment facilities, training and improved business records. This example is worthy of emulation.