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
Organic farming starts paying dividends in Sikkim
Ever since Sikkim was declared fully organic in January 2016, local farmers say it is helping them increase their incomes, although connectivity for rapid transportation of farm produce continues to be a stumbling block
Pockets of prosperity bloom in Vaishali due to cauliflower seed farming
A combination of modern farming techniques and savvy marketing of cauliflower seeds is providing a large number of young people in Vaishali a lucrative livelihood and has halted out-migration completely
Land comes in between plough and plate
Increasing fragmentation of cultivated land in most parts of India makes it difficult to build supply chains of produce from farm gates to end consumers in an efficient and viable manner
Growing a forest transforms Jharkhand village
The residents of Hesatu village have successfully raised a thriving forest over 365 acres of wasteland without any intervention from the state or civil society organizations that now supports livelihoods in many ways
Bodoland families smart under ravages of climate and conflict
A combination of ethnic conflict and climate change has pushed thousands of distressed families in western Assam towards a precarious existence
A king-sized guava that keeps farmers smiling
The VNR-Bihi variety of guava, which often weighs more than half a kilo and has a long shelf life, is being adopted by farmers across the country in large numbers as it fetches handsome returns
Organic farming fetches higher returns for Puducherry farmers
Farmers in Sorapattu village have reduced the costs of farming inputs by curbing use of chemical fertilizers and embracing integrated pest management, which has resulted in higher incomes for them
Tablet girls of Jharkhand storm digital bastion
Trained and equipped by the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society, bookkeepers of women’s self-help groups in villages are using computer tablets to maintain loan records
Bariyarpur farmers paying heavy price for Gopalganj-Bettiah bridge
Victims of ill-planned infrastructure development, villagers in this Paschim Champaran village are now forced to migrate because prime agricultural land has turned infertile. Flooding in parts of the village has increased as well, they say