An innovation at its best

Tanuj Goswami

(tanujuri03@gmail.com)

Since its miraculous birth on May 14, 1948, the state of Israel, the tiny Jewish nation which is even smaller than the State of New Jersey, USA, has had to relentlessly face numerous challenges, bothnal and geopogeopolitical,h its back to the wall.

Being perched in an arid region with little water, scarce cultivable lands, serious geographical constraints and hostile surroundings, the nation under the strong and visionary leadership of David Ben GuriGurion, was the first prime minister of Israel, nicknamed as t‘father of modern IsraIsrael,ed the seeds of outstanding ideas for innovation to make Israel unparalleled one, relative to itsneighbouringg countries.

Negev, a historical bigdesertt inIsrael,l is said to be the test forthe survivall of Israeli life. Despite its harshest circumstances, Israel is makingthe mostt of the Negevdesert,t producing 44% ofthe agriculturall needs of the country wherea meree 10% of the people used to live.

The one and only Jewish state of Israel comprises more than 60% desert land, and the Negev is the biggest desert that covers a vast swathe of arid surface. While the trend of increasing desertification across the globe has been a burning issue due to a couple of climatic factors, Israel’s Negev desert keeps decreasing and being transformed into a huge area of blooming different agricultural products.

It is nothing short of a miracle that a bone-dry, arid surface of the earth has been turned into national assets and a hub of producing a variety of top-grade fruits, vegetables, wines, etc., exporting to several high-end European markets. Above all, Negev, with its excellent infrastructure, has been made the perfect centre for researchers, scholars and innovators from different parts of the world.

The Desert Institute of Negev under Ben Gurion University is a unique one doing extensive research and technology development works, and all their technical know-how and cutting-edge technology have spread far and wide, and many countries replicate it. Hosted and ideated by some committed Israeli scientists, the Institute has been doing yeoman’s work for the development of the nation.

Under this institute there are four major organisations: the Water Institute, Agriculture and Biotechnology Institute, Department of Renewable Energy and Department of Environmental Physics. This is the place where ideas and challenges of nature are translated into reality for the service to the people and development of the nation. From childhood every student is taught to learn how to reduce waste of water, and of late Israel boasts of being a water surplus nation, and its water technology is considered to be the best in the world. It is ironical that while the abundant sources of seawater have been translated into a boon in Israel, the rest of the neighbouring Arab nations have to depend on Israel for water supply. The water from the Sea of Galilee, being one of the vital sources of water in Israel, is driven from northern Israel , blessed with rainfall, to the south, which has zero rainfall, through the National Water Carrier, the biggest water carrier set up in 1937, even before the birth of Israel.

For human development, the two vital needs of a nation are power and water. While sunlight as a huge source of energy is abundant in Israel, the other component, water, is available only in the form of salty, in consumable one in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in the south and the west of Israel, respectively. This abundant water source is skilfully harnessed and desalinised in the five massive water desalination plants on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and one in the Red Sea of Eilat (Israel) with the most sophisticated state-of-the-art methods, thus creating history in the field of water technology. As per the Water Law of 1959, in Israel water belongs to everyone’s property, and no one can claim it even if it is found in one’s backyard. The huge water infrastructure plants in Israel extend to all areas from north to south of Israel, with powerful pumping stations, reservoirs, and installation centres across the nation that make water not only available but also an exportable item to countries like Jordan, the UAE, Palestine, Lebanon, etc.

Presently this nation has a population nearly 9 million but it produces food for 80 million people with the adoption of most sophisticated technology. Most of the Israeli farmers are known to be university graduates who make extensive use of drones, bio-fertilisers, excellent quality seeds, drip irrigation, and portable soil sensor devices that accurately detect the moisture, electrical conductivity and temperature of soil.

Agro-business, a thriving sector of the economy, is transforming the state into a big agriculture hub, and a new push for unconventional technology and out-of-the-box thinking places the state in the forefront of innovation. The forte lies in the highly proactive and ever-caring government support, strong academia, the entrepreneurial spirit of the people, and zeal to uncover the unknown.

The state of present-day Israel is draped with lush green vegetation and the cultivation of different varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. A country always misunderstood even by the UN has survived in the most chaotic and hostile region of the world by the dint of her perseverance, innovative skills and a wonderful faculty of higher order.

On the contrary, our beloved state of Assam, despite being endowed with bountiful natural resources of all kinds, is still enmeshed in the grip of persistent poverty with distressing social and economic indices, and no one knows when an era of integrated and all-round development of the state will be ushered in. Let the powers that be decide a new course of action fermented with innovative ideas to make the most of our innumerable colleges, universities, and research institutions to plunge seriously into deeper studies of research works in order to promote a broad-based ecosystem of innovative ideas and skills among students. The present trend and system of education from lower to higher levels need thorough overhauling with systemic sophistication.