Cellphone Company + Fertilizer Company = Cool Idea

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar (IKSL) is a unique partnership between India’s largest mobile operator, Airtel and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO). According to the brief on iGovernment:
IFFCO Kisan Sanchar (IKSL), would be focusing on communication requirement of rural India, besides providing agriculture related information to enable villagers take right farming decisionsIKSL will offer handsets, co-branded SIM [...]

Cellphones and (Rural) Development, Part Two

The agricultural sector employs 2/3 of India’s population, and contributes to 1/3 of its gross domestic product (GDP) - yet, Indian farmers in rural communities are plagued by debt, falling commodity prices, changing weather patterns, fluctuating demands in the global market, and failing crops. In regions such as Vidarbha, farmer suicides are endemic, to [...]

ISTE Conference and Student Essay Competition on Rural Technology

From Let Me Know, here is a conference and essay competition on “Technology For Rural India: Challenges and Perspectives.” The conference will focus on the following:
In celebration of the ISTE Day 2008, the Delhi Section of the Indian Society of Technical Education (ISTE) is hosting a conference on “Technology for Rural India: Challenges and Perspectives”. [...]

IBM and Rural India Make a Connection, Literally.

As a follow-up to previous posts relating to the role of mobile technology as an enabling factor in the development of rural India, IBM has recently launched a pilot project in south India that will allow rural communities to access information ranging from healthcare service providers to potential markets for finished goods through a toll-free [...]

Evening Edition

Some table topics as you start preparing for dinner:

Humanitarian awards:  The Grameen Foundation reports today that Mohammad Yunus will be awarded the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award.  The award will be bestowed upon Yunus at the Tech Museum of Innovation award ceremony in November (by the way, the nomination deadline for the Tech Museum [...]

Manthan Awards 2008: Solutions for the Digital Divide

The 5th annual Manthan Awards, which aim to encourage usage of ICT for the empowerment of rural communities in India, are underway.  The mission of the competition is as follows:
To create an information rich society where everyone, irrespective of caste, religion, race, region, gender etc., is empowered to create, receive, share and utilize information and [...]

Local Governance: (Re)presenting Women

According to a recent A. C. Neilsen ORG MARG survey, the approximately 10.5 lakh women in panchayati raj (village level governance) have gained significant influence in key decision-making.  In fact, the report has also found that a larger proportion of women have risen to local governance positions within the panchayati raj:
The survey, conducted across 24 [...]

Market for Wi-Fi will top $744 million by 2012

To piggyback on a recent post by Shital, the aforementioned report on “Wi-fi in India” also forecasted that “the overall Indian Wi-Fi market (including WLAN hardware, systems integration and software services, not including embedded devices, laptops) is predicted to grow from the current $41.57 million to exceed $744 million by 2012 (compound annual growth rate (CAGR) [...]

IIM Conference: Marketing to Rural Consumers

From April 3-5th, the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (Kerala) will be hosting a conference entitled, “Marketing to Rural Consumers: Understanding and Tapping the Rural Market Potential.”  The purpose of the conference is as follows:

The emergence of rural markets as highly untapped potential emphasizes the need to explore them…Surge in the publications on rural marketing is [...]

Tracking Maternal Mortality Rates in Rural India

India has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world - 300 per 100,000 live births.  In fact, over 20% of the world’s reported maternal deaths occur in India, most of which are preventable, given the proper infrastructure and resources.  The majority of these maternal deaths occur in poor, rural areas, where access [...]

Super Early Morning Edition

Headlines: 

 Shrinking Job Market Gives Government the Shivers

The Manmohan Singh government, which is battling inflation, has another worry at hand: a shrinking job market. While the government at the Centre has not been able to rein in prices, it has admitted that rupee appreciation against dollar has resulted in the loss of about 20 lakh jobs.

Rural [...]

Op-Ed: Migration and its Discontents

There is no doubt that the issues of migration and urbanization within India are wrought with controversy.  In the case of rural-urban migration, which is overwhelmingly the case, the impact on the social, economic, and psychological structure of villages and cities, both on a macro and micro level, is significant. 
In my experience within the Adivasi, rural [...]

Late Night Edition

Headlines:

Free lunch scheme for pregnant women in PHCs to be extended

In yet another maternal care project aimed at benefiting rural women, the State government has decided to provide free food to all pregnant women who visit primary health centres (PHCs) for a check-up…the decision to provide ‘full lunch’ was taken because it took about four [...]

Dalit Women Make Their Voices Heard

As mentioned in a previous post, land ownership is a critical factor in determining social and economic status in rural communities. This is especially true of the dalit community, who, for the most part, don’t own their own land, and must work for meager wages as majdoors (labourers) on other people’s land. [...]

Reclaiming the Land

As brought to our attention by InfoChangeIndia, the phenomenon of urban migration is a multidimensional issue, with social and economic repercussions, both for rural and urban India. As described in an article entitled, “This Land is Ours!”, as a result of urban migration, women in rural communities are undergoing changes in terms of their [...]