Livelihoods

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.

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Kashmir’s vegetable farmers reap rich dividends

Bringing more land under vegetable cultivation and using technology, farmers in Kashmir have made fresh produce available for the state in winter and for other states in summer

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There’s more to horticulture than tomatoes, onions and potatoes

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While the priority given to tomato, onion and potato (TOP) farmers by the Prime Minister is a welcome move, special attention must be given to smallholder vegetable growers, since horticulture provides a nutrition and income buffer to the rural poor

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Purulia’s nachaniyas still dance to escape destitution

Exploited by their so-called masters, the folk dancers of rural Bengal have no option but to keep dancing and entertaining to escape poverty and destitution, shunned by society and with no help from the government

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Rainwater harvesting is the best way forward for irrigation

As intensive agriculture spreads across India, there is an urgent need to encourage rainwater harvesting to irrigate multiple crops instead of the current unsustainable practice of groundwater extraction

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Hailstorms devastate Marathwada, Vidarbha farmers

Sudden hailstorms have extensively damaged the winter crop in Marathwada and Vidarbha, underlining the fact that the distressed farmers need more accurate weather forecasts, speedier compensation and farmer-friendly crop insurance

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How to spread technology rapidly among the poor?

The remarkable spread of mobile phones and related telecom infrastructure throughout India holds important lessons on how to reach latest technology to the rural poor at a fast clip, and how unit costs can be optimized

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Tarapur villages use saltpan to harvest water

Although land and groundwater around the Tarapur atomic plant had turned saline due to seawater ingress and presence of a saltpan, villagers have successfully redeemed and reclaimed the land

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Families in Neikkarapatti make jaggery, unmindful of challenges

Sugarcane farmers in this part of rural Tamil Nadu have been adding value to their produce through a slow and arduous process, and offer jaggery as a healthier alternative to sugar

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Tur dal farmers left in the lurch due to tardy procurement

Farmers cultivating pigeon pea continue to suffer losses because of inadequate preparation on the ground for government procurement even as India aims for self-sufficiency in lentil production