E-mail: khiyali@gmail.com While a graduate student at University of Maryland, Ravi Kuchimanchi founded the Association for India's Development (AID) in 1991 with the vision "problems are interconnected, so must be the solution." AID has matured into a volunteer movement for sustainable, holistic development with 50 chapters in USA, Australia and India. It brings highly skilled professionals such as the Non-Resident Indian community, to partner with the poor, and underprivileged so that there is a deeper understanding of causes beyond the mere symptoms of poverty.
In 1998, after his postdoctoral work in theoretical particle physics at University of Virginia, Ravi returned to India with his wife Aravinda, to work on development issues such as dams versus people and environment, rural electrification and integrated development. Working in 30 villages of Srikakulam Distrct, Andhra Pradesh, It became clear to Ravi that a poor labourer earning less than a dollar a day lived in darkness, not because s/he can't afford the energy bill, but because they can't afford to pay a large bribe of a months wage, to get the connection. In fact the kerosene for oil-lamps that poor use, is more expensive than electricity that could light their home. Such insights helped AID, that raises $1 Million annually, extend its support to tackle corruption and exploitation rather than just the symptoms of poverty.
With his collaborators Ravi developed the pedal power generator to light remote, off-the-grid village schools where students take turns to pedal. Demand for alternate energy in the Narmada river valley in western India, where there is an ongoing struggle against large dams such as the Sardar Sarovar, led Ravi to forge a collaboration between AID and grassroots groups such as People's School of Energy, Narmada Bachoa Andolan and Sarvodaya centre, that electrified 12 hamlets of the tribal village Bilgaon. This inspired the Bollywood film Swades (2005) that became a symbol for Non-Resident Indians interested in India's development. In 2006, Ravi drafted a crucial petition that challenged engineers of Sardar Sarovar dam who were exaggerating benefits of the dam, in their effort to speed up its construction, at the cost of tens of thousands of village families, whose dwellings would be submerged without rehabilitation.
Recently, Ravi has been interested in Indian democracy's latest achievement -- the Right to Information (RTI) Act, that gives citizens of India access to government documents and increases transparency. This along with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which promises 100 days of work to all rural families at with an annual budget of $3 billion, has the potential to change the face of India. With collaborators in the Indian state of Orissa, he has conducted audits of the government employment program where significant parts of the funds were being siphoned off by contractors and officials. In the USA, AID has set up an Anti-Corruption Fund and team, that has helped support activists in India as well as has forced the Indian embassy in Washington DC to implement the RTI Act, so that Indians in USA can access information from Indian government.
Ravi has a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and a PhD in Physics from University of Maryland. He has published several papers in international physics journals including Physical Review Letters. His interests and work in physics include the Strong CP Problem, Neutrino masses, Family triplication, Supersymmetry, Parity-symmetric theories as well as the intriguing nature of Quantum Mechanics. In 1989 while a graduate student, along with a friend, he obtained a US patent for a toy-puzzle that was featured by NY Times and several Television channels in USA. This was one of his early ideas for raising money to help tackle poverty. However as the economy was slow at that time, despite the interest it generated, it did not get picked up. That was when he hit upon the idea of AID and ever since has been focussed on it. Aravinda and Ravi have a charming 4-year old daughter Khiyali who has made several friends in villages and cities.
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