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
Farmers are making Kashmir a land of honey
Farmers growing fruits and vegetables in Kashmir are doubling as beekeepers to boost their incomes, taking advantage of vast tracts of horticultural land with their abundance of flowers
Youth trade guns for bananas in Assam
Assamese rural youth who once worked with insurgent outfits are giving up their gun-fueled violent ways and taking to banana cultivation for a peaceful and dignified livelihood
Antenatal care of producer enterprises missing in India
If producer companies that aim to benefit poor farmers are to succeed in India, critical factors such as a sense of ownership, correct assessment of economic environment and social capital need to be better thought out
Rearing fish in farm ponds boosts rural incomes
Farm ponds, built to harvest rainwater and irrigate rain-fed fields, are doubling up as fishponds, helping farmers overcome vagaries of agriculture with an additional source of income
Toy makers adapt to markets, add color to fading industry
Moving beyond toys, artisans in a Karnataka village make curios, and use new toy making and marketing methods to overcome challenges posed by cheap Chinese imports and restore the glory of Channapatna’s non-toxic wooden toys
How distressed rural migrants shelter in cities
Flood and drought often drive the rural poor to cities. Those who are landless often stay on. Risking lives under the open sky, they hope a city’s many work opportunities will help them survive somehow
Broadening domains for micro-enterprises in rural India
The promotion of micro-enterprises in villages to meet the large demand for livelihoods would benefit from out-of-the-box ideas that move beyond hackneyed activities like making papads and pickles
Revival of traditional sattu helps village women make a living
Women in rural Nalanda are popularizing the use of a traditional grinding stone to pound flour out of roasted gram, providing a healthier alternative to machine-ground sattu and earning a livelihood for themselves
Farm entrepreneurs build path to prosperity in rural Jharkhand
Many farmers in Jharkhand have started taking progressive steps as rural entrepreneurs, offering a host of services to help local smallholders move beyond subsistence agriculture and towards increased incomes