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
Women weave plastic waste into utilitarian products
Traditionally adept at weaving, women around Kaziranga weave products with threads made from plastic bags, and cotton thread, to reduce plastic pollution and earn a livelihood
Helping hands pull Jharkhand farmers from the brink
Farmers who were in the brink of starvation during lockdown were identified through vulnerable mapping. With quality seeds and training in better practices, they are reaping better yields
Baul singers take to digital performances during lockdown
Minstrels of Bengal who carry on traditional baul singing were hit hard by the lockdown. Ticketed live streaming has enabled them to sustain themselves and their art
How rural India showed resilience, synergy during lockdown
Republic Day is an ideal occasion to celebrate rural India’s positive progress. VillageSquare recollects how communities used the lockdown productively, despite difficulties and loss of livelihoods.
American saffron emerges as an alternative crop to opium
In Jharkhand’s remote villages where opium has been cultivated illegally for many years, forest department promotes American saffron as an alternative crop of commercial value
Adapting to market needs, weavers find financial success
In a remote village in Majuli island, women who have always woven their traditional garments, are using their weaving skills to make different products and earn more
Cash crop cotton loses lustre for Ganjam farmers
Lack of transportation and marketing facilities and exploitation by private money lenders have forced cotton growers to cultivate other crops despite cotton’s potential for good returns
Through multi-tier farming women minimize risks, maximize profits
Growing a minimum of three crops per season, women farmers overcome climate risks. Staggered harvest from multiple crops help then earn through the year and overcome market risks
Social entrepreneur improves rural livelihood opportunities
Quitting a lucrative job and taking up farming, engineer runs a farm-based enterprise, enabling women farmers to become rural entrepreneurs