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
Boatwrights of Balagarh hope that the tide will turn
A move to replace 15,000 mechanized boats in West Bengal’s waterways and a floating market in Kolkata have brought hope to the wooden boat makers of Hooghly, who have been languishing for want of steady demand
Toymakers of Chitrakoot struggle with declining demand
Cultural changes and urbanization have led to a shrinking market for Chitrakoot’s wooden toys and a decline in the number of traditional toymakers, yet a few carry on, hoping for the best about the craft’s future
Kamrup women lead Eri silk revival for improved livelihoods
Linking markets with traditional Eri silk weavers in many parts of Assam, non-profit organization Grameen Sahara has enabled thousands of village women to boost their household incomes
Why farmers in this Kerala village pray for peace with Pakistan
Having seen fluctuations in the export of betel leaf to Pakistan over the years, Malappuram betel farmers in northern Kerala remain hopeful of overcoming the present impasse and resuming a profitable trade
How to develop divisible technology for the rural poor
There is a need to develop easily divisible technologies that do not need heavy investment, after taking into consideration social customs and cultural practices of rural users
Custard apple ushers in affluence to Maharashtra farmers
Farmers in Pimpari Dumala in Maharashtra have prospered so much by growing custard apples that they have spurned land acquisition offers to expand industrial estates
Digital push boosts incomes for Sundarbans’ organic farmers
A digital platform has helped women farmers living in the northern fringes of Sundarbans in West Bengal to sell organically grown indigenous rice and other produce directly to customers, helping them to book higher profits
Social entrepreneur sets Naga tribes on path of progress
In an underdeveloped part of Jalukie Valley in Nagaland, the church-based Rongmei Baptist Association has gone beyond call of faith to help tribal communities uplift themselves through development interventions
Bihar farmers taste success with sweet strawberries
Farmers in an Aurangabad village prone to drought and Maoist insurgency have defied scientific opinion, and cultivated strawberries successfully, boosting the local economy