MA Johnson has been pioneer in the manufacture
of LED bulbs, realising their potential much before they became mainstream
His head makes up nearly a half of his tangled
mass of body, which fits into an armchair. With one foot resting behind his
head and equipped with a mobile phone and blue tooth head set that he operates
with the tip of a finger on his partially functional right hand, Johnson
manages to run an electronics industry and a network of service centres across
the State. In between, he manages to pass directions to his four-member team
assembling solar-powered LED emergency lamps at his home that dubs as his
workshop as well as manufacturing unit.
M A Johnson, an unschooled 49-year-old man, from
Peruvannamuzhi, a sleepy hilly hamlet in Kozhikode district, is known to be a
pioneer in the manufacture of LED (Light Emitting Diodes) bulbs in the country.
Fourteen years ago, when Johnson put forth the idea that LED bulbs could be
used for lighting, and not just as decorative pieces, he was laughed at. “The
world could not accept that a man like me can come up with ideas that can
change the world,” Johnson recalls.
Alternative to CFL
It was a time when CFLs (Compact Fluorescent
Lamps) ruled. Concerned over the amount of pollution CFL caused, he found that
LED bulbs were a better alternative and pioneered their production. Time proved
Johnson right and LED bulbs are now the norm with electronics giants to self
help groups manufacturing them. “My bulbs are different from others available
in the market—they do not heat up and are serviceable for up to 10 years,” he
says.
Johnson has always been known in his region for
his intellect and will power. “My mind is not imprisoned by my body. I am a
manufacturer. God has given me this unique “engine” (he points to his head with
his only functional hand), you know.”
Founding M Tech Electro Digital Industry, known
for its durable and environment-friendly products, was not a cakewalk for him.
“As a child, I used to make toys with whatever was available at hand. What else
can a child who was rendered immobile by polio at six months of age do?”
He was the fifth son of Abraham and Elikkuty of
Peruvannamuzhi. When his brothers went to school, he would lie on the verandah.
He listened to his brothers reading their books out and slowly learned to read
and write from them. “I would scan every bit of paper that was brought home for
information, be it a wrapper,” he said.
He got interested in ‘light’ as electricity came
to the hamlet in 1991. “Voltage was a big problem then. The tube lights would
not function in low voltage and hence I thought about tube light chokes that
worked in low voltage,” Johnson said.
In 1994, Johnson sought the help of a relative
trained in electronics and after months-long experiments came up with first, a
choke and then, a stabilizer that worked on 4 watts. Both were instant hits and
people came to him for his products from all over the district.
Fighting the odds
His first attempt to shift his manufacturing unit
out of his house ended up a tragedy in 1998 with fire consuming the unit and
all his tools with it, just a few days before it was officially opened. But
Johnson bounced back and started afresh to achieve his dream by 2004. Now his
unit manufactures solar-powered fans, streetlights, LED emergency lamps,
durable LED bulbs and car interior lights. His products are being marketed
directly by his Satva Environmental Organisation. Satva also works for energy
conservation, elimination of waste and helping people like him project their
talents.
His wife Usha is his pillar of strength. It was
in 2000 that Johnson married Usha, who was one of the trainees at his manufacturing
unit. “I was at first drawn by the perseverance of a man who did not give in to
fate even in his physical state. I started admiring his brilliance later,” Usha
had once said. They got married despite objections from their respective
families and communities. The couple now has two sons, Jayoon, an engineering
student and Jashoon, a ninth standard student.
Unschooled, Johnson offers motivational classes
to children. Besides, he has more than 300 students. “They do not come to me
for just training or employment. They know that it is their chance to get
exposure to a broader perspective on life and nature.”
A winner of Energy Conservation Award in 2008 and
State Award for differently-abled talent in 2015, Johnson has solutions to many
of our nagging problems. He has ideas to reduce the back pack burden of school
children, to save energy, to ensure that no one evades taxes, to modernise the
quality of education, to stop traffic congestion on the Kozhikode-Wayanad Ghat
road, to ensure that we have better political leaders and so on.
In need of support
But, he needs support executing them. He talks
from his experience dealing with officials who have tortured him enough in
connection with a loan that the Chief Minister himself had written off.
Yet, he does not abandon his efforts. “It may
take me two months to execute some idea if I had support. Without it, I may
take two years or more, but the idea will be executed.”
He is planning to present before the world an
innovation in less than a month. “One which can make bigger changes in the
world than the LED,” Johnson claims.
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