TC-I Tidbits

Energy and the Environment: Tata Power promises an environmentally conscious power plant in Cuttack and also pledges to pay above market rates for acquiring the land. The national government launches its ‘Green India’ campaign that will plant trees over 6 million hectares of degraded forests over the next 10 years.
Women and Media: Women at the [...]

Thumbs up, thumbs down

A thoroughly inspiring story reminding us that the most important examples of innovation occur where we least expect them to.
Farmers who visit Amai Mahalinga Naik’s two-acre plot on the hilltop near Adyanadka in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka return spellbound. Irrigated farming at this height is very surprising. This 58-year-old illiterate farm labourer has developed [...]

Reminder: The Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 - INDIA

We have mentioned this opportunity before. But the folks from Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation wanted us to throw in a reminder to our readers about the ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year’ Award 2008. The deadline is for application is 5th June, 2008 and you can access the online application here.
Here are some basic details [...]

TC-I Tidbits

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Health: The pharmaceutical industry in India fears that one in five drugs sold in the country are fake. A study undertaken by the by the drug controller general will focus on this.
Transportation: India and France on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in railways, including constructing world class stations, [...]

Using Regulation to promote Social Business: The case of IRDA

Livemint reports that India’s insurance companies (private and state-owned) are expanding rapidly in rural markets, and have topped the IRDA’s mandatory rural targets.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is Government of India body set-up to regulate the insurance sector, which has gone through significant liberalization in the last decade. IRDA has continuously emphasized the [...]

First ever National Conference of Rural BPOs

Byrraju Foundation (a philanthropic foundation founded by Satyam head B. Ramalinga Raju and his family in 2001), is organizing India’s first National Conference of Rural BPOs named ‘Jyotismay’. The conference is to be held on 16th May, 2008 in Hyderabad, and you can register to participate in the conference through this link. It is [...]

TC-I Tidbits

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Technology: Trak.in reports that a DesiWiki will help Indian start ups to increase their knowledge base on the technical aspects of starting a new venture.
Education: In order to encourage students to stay in school, the government approved a merit scholarship that will award deserving students of lower income sections with Rs [...]

The Talent Vacuum

Many of our prior posts have spoken to the urgent need to overhaul, or at the least, significantly revamp the education system in India, as evidenced by the massive rise in demand for both primary and higher education institutions in relation to dwindling supply (not to mention the relatively low quality of instruction/infrastructure at pre-existing [...]

TC-I Tidbits

You daily dose of headlines:

Health, Women and Mortality:The lack of inclusion of midwives within the National Rural Health Mission is highlighted as one of the main reasons for the high maternal mortality rate in India.
Education: Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA) continued to push the government to pass the Right to Education Bill.
Public Awareness: Swagat Thorat, [...]

The Makings of the “Indian Dream”

The Business Standard features an intriguing anecdotal story about salt pan workers in Gujarat who now run their own company within the industry. Twenty-seven salt pan workers joined hands and efforts to form their own private company, called Sabras.
These workers hold 65 per cent stake in equity and are planning to raise it to 74 [...]

TC-I Tidbits

Your daily dose of headlines:

Health: Over 53% children in India under five years - that is, 67 million - live without basic healthcare facilities. This means that India alone accounts for about one-third of all children in the world aged below five who don’t have basic healthcare. [Source: Times of India]
Education: There is a shortage [...]

Maximizing efficiency in Microfinance: Interview with Equitas founder

The Hindu just published a great interview with Mr P.N. Vasudevan of Equitas Micro Finance, a start-up MFI based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Vasudevan is an interesting entrepreneur, having spent 20 years in the traditional banking industry working with Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd and Development Credit Bank. Reading the interview, its easy to [...]

TC-I Tidbits

CSR: Turns out Government of India is planning to set-up a institute focused on corporate affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility. The proposed think-tank is to be called Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) [via iGovernment]

Social Security: According to a report by the People’s Collective for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PCESCR), an umbrella organisation [...]

Vote in the Global Water Challenge

The Global Water Challenge, a competition put on by Ashoka Changemakers, is taking votes right now on their selected finalists. Titled “Tapping Local Innovation: Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis,” voting for the projects is open until Sunday, May 11.
Ashoka’s Changemakers and Global Water Challenge have partnered to open a worldwide search for ideas and [...]

Vikram Akula of SKS Microfinance Touts Mobile Banking as the Future of Microfinance

In a recent interview with IndiaKnowledge@Wharton, Vikram Akula of SKS Microfinance touted mobile banking (conventionally used for “performing balance checks, account transactions, payments etc. via a mobile device such as a mobile phone” as the future of microfinance, but cited India’s regulatory environment as a significant limiting factor in expanding mobile banking networks (click here [...]