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
Dry land distress drives people to break stones in quarries
A lack of livelihood opportunities is compelling villagers of Vidisha district in Madhya Pradesh to take up jobs in local stone quarries, where unregulated work conditions are often extremely hazardous for their health
From subsistence farming to agroforestry and prosperity
Farmers in the southern reaches of Pudukottai district in Tamil Nadu have turned to agroforestry to protect and boost incomes because falling groundwater levels and overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides had made agriculture unsustainable in the area
Small water pumps script success story in Assam
A survey conducted in South Kamrup in Assam shows that use of small water pumps for irrigation in an area where groundwater is abundant has resulted in significant increases in earnings for smallholder and marginal farmers
Telangana’s tur dal farmers face yet another uncertain season
The constant swing in the prices of tur dal in Telangana from one year to the next and tardy implementation of the government’s procurement mechanism have made life tough for thousands of subsistence farmers in Kodangal and Husnabad
Time has come to rethink the way we irrigate farmland
Rethinking irrigation needs to focus on end results and in exploring every possible way of reaching water to crop roots. For this to happen, perhaps the hegemony of the irrigation bureaucracy needs to come to an end
Anaj Bank frees Dalits from fear of hunger in Bihar
Community managed rice banks in several areas of Patna district in Bihar have released hundreds of Dalit families from the exploitative practices of powerful landlords by ensuring food during the lean season
A smart village rises in Bengal through agricultural entrepreneurship
A Food and Agriculture Integrated Development Action program implemented independently through a health, education and employment center has transformed Nandangram village in West Bengal by growing high quality farm produce
Organic farming for better yields takes wing in Gujarat
Inspired by examples of farmers earning ample returns through various techniques of chemicals-free farming, a farmers’ produce company in Rajkot is writing a new chapter on sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid zones
Development a distant dream on Elephanta Island
Finally set to get electricity 70 years into Independence, the development and availability of basic necessities of life such as clean drinking water or a health facility remains illusive at the three villages on Elephanta Island