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
Debts drive breadbasket farmers to daily wage labor
With farm income failing to keep pace with their debts, a large number of small and marginal farmers in Punjab and Haryana have started supplementing household earnings through daily wage labor
Chamarkhani shoemakers persist through declining demand
Despite stiff competition, a group of traditional shoemakers living in a village near Patna have held on to their craft, creating Chamarkhani jutas, the once well-known handmade leather shoes
Assamese women thrive on value-added garden produce
By supplying value-added products made from fresh fruits and vegetables grown in their backyards, women in villages of Assam’s Nagaon district have become financially independent
Sinnar farmers breathe life back into irrigated farming
By collectively reviving a colonial-era irrigation system, farmers in 19 villages of Sinnar in Maharashtra have transformed a water-starved area into productive and prosperous farmlands
Can agriculture be profitable and sustainable?
While commercialization of agriculture has led to an increase in profits in South Asia – a region marred by poverty and child malnutrition – short-term benefits may hide long-term risks
Next-gen Kashmir farmers turn to water wisdom
A new generation of Kashmiri farmers are adapting to extreme weather events such as more frequent droughts by creating water harvesting infrastructure to irrigate their land
Skill training empowers girls, raises hope for gender parity
Skill development trainings are not only helping rural communities fight poverty in Assam but are also empowering girls to aspire big, overcoming challenges posed by social stigma and deep-rooted gender disparity
Solar pumps brighten lives of Kutch’s salt farmers
Agariyas, the traditional saltpan workers in the Little Rann of Kutch, have switched from diesel to ecofriendly solar-powered pumps to lift brine that have boosted their earnings from saved costs
Chhattisgarh makes headway on tribal rights
Chhattisgarh has taken encouraging steps to recognize and implement rights of forest communities but more effort is required needed at the village level to boost livelihood opportunities for indigenous people