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
Lanterns of Bishnupur fading into darkness
The lantern industry of Bishnupur in West Bengal that once sustained hundreds of artisans is on the verge of fading out thanks to the rising cost of raw materials, never mind more affordable electricity.
Overproduction leads to distress sale of cauliflower in Bengal
Vegetable farmers in West Bengal suffer huge losses due to a surplus of cauliflower, never mind high fertiliser and labour costs.
Shrinking Wular Lake shrivels water chestnut harvests in Kashmir
Kashmiri women dependent on Wular Lake’s water chestnuts are finding it hard to sustain their livelihood collecting and processing the crop because of dumped waste and silt in the lake.
Kashmir’s willow wickerwork gets a modern facelift
In the face of cheap plastic products from China, Kashmiri craftsmen meld traditional willow with modern designs to create a wide range of competitive products – vases, lamp shades, haute kitchenware and even sofas.
Ills of eucalyptus drive Odisha tribals back to legacy crops
In southern Odisha farmers are switching from water-guzzling eucalyptus trees to diversified farming of traditional crops to boost soil fertility, crop yield, household income and dietary diversity.
To buy supplies, millet is money in Koraput’s barter system in Odisha
Women across tribal villages store mandia or finger millets in large containers and take out small portions throughout the year for soap, oil, vegetables, dried fish, tobacco and the like
Wakhoo: Journey from a sleepy village of timber traders to ‘Pencil Village’ of India
There’s a 90 percent chance that the pencil you’re writing with is made of slats processed in Wakhoo of south Kashmir – for it supplies more than 70% of wood to India’s pencil industry.
With nowhere to go, new year brings no cheer to landless Adivasis in Madhya Pradesh
Hundreds of Adivasis of Shukrawasa village in Madhya Pradesh stare at an uncertain future, risking eviction from the land they toil on but do not own.
Youth revive traditional black pottery of Manipur
In Nungbi Khullen of Manipur youth spin their wheels to revive the famed black pottery, selling their products across India and improving their village’s economy.