Voices of the unconnected

The world has come a long way since 1995, when the Internet was introduced in India, and since 2003, when the UN General Assembly held the first of the two World Summits on the Information Society (popularly known as WSIS) in Geneva.The second WSIS was held in Tunis in 2005. The call of the WSIS was pretty simple: to work towards making an information society where every person is part of the connected world,…

NESI Awards: how social innovators are bringing about change in Northeast India

PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In this showcase, we feature some of the social entrepreneurs and changemakers from the Northeast India Social Impact awards and expo!In the earlier 50 posts, we brought you a wide range of creative photographs from an art fair, world music festival, painting fair, telecom expo, art museum, mobile showcase, math museum, social hackathon, ….

The digital voices of NGOs

Amid all the negativity about the roles and responsibilities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), mostly from the government and in many cases the business sector, one fact that nobody can take away from the non-profits is that theirs is perhaps the only voice shouting out loud when there are matters of concern, causes that need attention, and issues that affect civil society.

Maharaja Harendra Kishore Kendriya Zila Pustakalay, Bettiah West Champaran, Bihar

Maharaja Harendra Kishore Kendriya Zila Pustakalay which was established more than hundred years ago has been functioning as a district public library for twenty five years now. Until 2013, the library was not fully functional. Then came the Global Libraries (GL) pilot project in the library campus of Bettiah District Public Library, a project of…

Information darkness plagues weavers in Odisha

Last month, a team from DEF visited Attabira and Barpali in Bargarh district, and Nuapatna in Cuttack district of Odisha to access the socio-economic condition of weavers. And we were particularly impressed by the weavers of Nuapatna.about 70 kilometres away from the state Capital of Bhubaneswar, actually experiment with patterns, and are more meticulous and traditional in their process of extracting thread, spinning yarn ….

A visit to rural Odisha

A team from DEF was in Odisha last month to assess the situation of weavers in the villages of Attabira, Barapali and Nuapatna. It is sad to know that despite the government’s cluster development programme, the wages of weavers have only marginally increased since 2005. Adding to the woes of weavers is the role of…

Column of the Month

India is now the fourth largest start-up hub in the world, with a wide range of project in mobile media, Internet of Things(IOT), analytics, edtech, food-tech and more. Social entrepreneurs and NGOs are also active on the mobile front, backed by a range of venture capitalists, government grants and impact investors. “India is fast becoming…