Rural India is home of the original gig-economy worker. Enterprising villagers hop from tilling fields to tending shops, to door-to-door selling each day. Read the latest trends in micro-enterprises, rural start-ups and the shifting livelihoods of India’s villagers.
Livelihoods
Mizoram farmers caught in ‘rat trap’
Ahead of a new bamboo flowering cycle, rats are attacking fields in Mizoram, destroying crops in several acres as farmers and officials struggle to contain the problem.
‘Dignity is closely linked to economic condition’
About 95 percent of the workforce in India is engaged in the informal sector, and we cannot leave them outside of our imagination, says Subhash Bhatnagar of Nirmana, an organisation that seeks to empower unorganised sector workers.
Migrants live their Mumbai dream at Sassoon Docks
Thousands from across India's rural landscape arrive and work at Mumbai’s oldest wet dock, which is one of the nation’s biggest exporters of sea fish.
Kashmir’s youngsters take to mushroom farming
With help from the government, thousands of youths turn to mushroom cultivation to earn a livelihood.
Music band rings in new dawn for ex-prisoners
Naya Savera is a unique band comprising former inmates of Udaipur Central Jail out to shrug off their past for redeeming themselves.
Sangli’s grape farmers are ‘raisin’ the bar
Farmers harness the suitable climate and grow certain varieties of grapes that can be dried into raisins, elevating Sangli district as India’s raisin hub.
How women’s market sustains indigenous food system
The Tangkhul community of Ukhrul in Manipur relies heavily on agriculture, besides foraging. Women play an important role in it. Ava Market is the ‘women only’ market in town where herbs, plants and wild edibles are sold daily.
‘Soilless’ farming bears fruit for Odisha women farmers
Digital Green-supported initiatives in which saplings are grown in a mixture of composts and then planted in dry farmlands are getting growers better returns in Keonjhar district.
Why farmers in Mizoram quit oil palm cultivation
Amidst claims of oil palm cultivation being disastrous for the environment, lack of transportation facilities and inadequate water supply have been forcing farmers to switch to other crops.