IIT-Delhi has recently launched ‘Grassroots Innovation Programme (GRIP)’ under which the students will work on finding novel solutions to grassroots societal problems identified by them from rural and semi-urban areas, including the communities they come from. The initiative was launched by the principal scientific advisor (PSA) to the Government of India, Prof K Vijay Raghavan.

Lauding the initiative launched by IIT Delhi, Prof Raghavan expressed hope that GRIP will result in the development of several innovative solutions for society.  

As a part of this new initiative, the following two activities are proposed:

a) Social immersion: A group of students will visit communities located in smaller towns and villages to immerse in social environments for a substantial time (one week to months) to study, understand and identify local needs and challenges, which can possibly be addressed by the students when they return to the Institute campus. 

b) Grassroots innovation programme: As a part of this, students and student teams will be allowed to work on semester-long or year-long projects on finding novel solutions to grassroots problems identified by them. 

The GRIP initiative will provide physical, intellectual, and financial resources to the students to carry out these projects. To implement the above programmes, existing courses and schemes of IIT-Delhi will be leveraged. This way students will have an opportunity to earn academic credits for their efforts. 

The programme can synergize with other programmes of the Institute, which include UBA, RUTAG, NSS, ENACTUS, etc.

“The GRIP initiative is aimed at providing resources to the students who want to help society by solving its problems,” said Prof V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi.    

IIT Delhi and Honey Bee Network (HBN), a volunteer-based network have joined hands to groom students as torchbearers of social and grassroots innovation through the GRIP programme.