After tasting success at digitally empowering the Chanderi weaving cluster through its Chanderiyaan project, DEF initiated DigiKala in 2014 as an integrated programme to digitally empower more such weaving clusters in India. The programme has now gone to scale and has become an umbrella brand under which five specific weaving clusters are being digitally empowered…
Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) is planning to launch two major initiatives in 2016. The first initiative will enable farmers to directly link up with scientists by using digital tools available at Community Information Resource Centres (CIRCs) set up by DEF in remote rural areas. In the second initiative, DEF will set up a for-profit social…
This article was first published in the Mint newspaper on December 25, 2015. John Nelson is in his 30s and lives in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. Cuddalore was severely affected in the recent floods. Nelson also runs a non-profit called Saranalayam. On 3 December, while he was engaged in relief operations, he called Ram Bhat,…
This article was first published in the Mint newspaper on December 18, 2015. There are 12 million people in rural India who are either on the rolls of the government or elected members of local bodies, and all of them have cell phones. They can change India for the better. The country is on the cusp…
This article was first published in the Mint newspaper on December 9, 2015. Starting 1 December, for 100 days, citizens across the 33 districts of Rajasthan will come out and ask the government about information that may not be easily available. We know how information has different roles to play in our country. While the most…
The 12th edition of the Manthan Award South Asia and Asia Pacific Gala was held in an all-new ‘unconference’ style on December 2, 2015 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. This year the Award felicitated 36 digital innovators selected out of 412 nominations received from 36 countries in South Asia and the Asia Pacific…
The 12th Manthan Awards 2015 were held this year in an all-new ‘un-conference’ style at India Habitat Centre, New-Delhi, on December 2, 2015.The event began at 3 pm with more than 450 participants, speakers, delegates and award finalists — from all over South Asia and Asia Pacific region…
This article was first published in the Mint newspaper on November 27, 2015. Literacy is not an issue any more. As long as we have digital media tools and a verbal syntax, we are literate and educated. For all endangered languages, digital media could be a saviour and a means of bouncing back. For centuries, those…
Recently I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in India. I was part of a conference series, Startup Capitals that I was co-organising in New Delhi and Bengaluru. Then I stopped over in Mumbai for a few more days and met some more entrepreneurs. Most of the speakers in the conference pointed…
The Aajeevika-National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India in June 2011. The Aajeevika Skill Development Programme (ASDP) is a sub-mission under NRLM. It has evolved out of the need to: Cater to the occupational aspirations of the rural youth who are poor To…
