This month, DEF and Nokia are happy to initiate their Smart Village rural entrepreneurship-based project based on a hub-and-spoke model in Nuh (Haryana) and Asoor (Tamil Nadu). It is a model concept that has been conceptualised in a manner that challenges and redefines the existing idea of smart villages, which is based more on the availability…
“The warp and weft come together to weave more than just fabrics; On a loom in a weaver’s home, Dreams are woven from threads of hope. The constant rattle of the shafts serve as the theme music; The weaver becomes the Maestro and the work, their legacy.” DigiKargha, a social entrepreneurship and handloom empowerment initiative…
As India aims to move more and more towards the vision of a cashless economy, it is important to include rural communities into the ambit of a Digital India as well. Given that as much as 67 per cent of India’s population lives in rural India which is dependent on cash transactions, the goal of…
Supported by Oracle and CAF India, CIRC Madhusudangarh in Madhya Pradesh has enabled farmers and other community members to avail various government schemes and entitlements. Due to lack of information, people are often left in the dark about the various government services that they are eligible for or are unaware of the process of availing…
MADANMOHAN RAO Author, Consultant, Research Advisor The lean start-up approach, which is being used with increasing zeal and rigour by start-ups and corporates, is now being applied to the social enterprise sector as well by mobile-centric NGOs and innovators. This topic is now being addressed by a number of resources and books, such as ‘Lean…
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, all play and no work makes Jack a dull boy,” believes Maria Edgeworth, a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults’ and children’s literature. With a view to provide space for work and play, the ITE Centre in Nagaon (Assam) organised a three-day winter camp at Nehru…
Public libraries in India, which have acted as the reservoirs, preservers and disseminators of knowledge for many years, are struggling to remain relevant and sustain themselves in the digital era. The public libraries have, especially, served well to the youth in smaller towns of India, who have limited resources to access knowledge. Our former Prime…
By Abner Manzar Travel enthusiast The Destination in the Journey Travel makes one think about personal identities. “Kahan se aa rahe? (Where are you coming from?)”, a man asked me near the Beypore Port in Kozhikode (Kerala). It was a little difficult for me to answer the question. If I would have said ‘Pondicherry’ (where…
DEF has long standing prioritisation of linking practice to policy advocacy, and linking local to regional and global work through research, advocacy, network building, capacity development and strategic communications in space of internet governance and internet related human rights issues. Since 2011, DEF has been engaged in national and international advocacy through its open and…
Jatri Orain is a 44-year-old widow of the same village. Three years ago, her husband died of excessive consumption of alcohol, leaving her with nine children to and barely any source of income. While four daughters were married off early, she was still responsible for five other children who were still at school. At the…
