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
Cooperative helps rural women gain financial independence
Celebrating International Women’s Day gives members of a rural women’s collective the opportunity to reflect on their improved livelihood and progress with renewed zeal towards financial sustenance
Women get trained for employment and starting enterprises
Second Chance program helps girls who had quit education take up jobs after a short training, and helps women farm and set up small units
Paddy farmers reap rich harvest through SRI cultivation
Growing paddy the traditional way pushed farmers into poverty as the yields were low. Switching to SRI method has helped them harvest more than twice the normal yield
Plant nurseries bear fruits of success, empowerment for women
By coming together as a group and raising plant nurseries, women who were being exploited by money lenders, earn more to feed and care for their families better
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