Fareeda Isaac (47) is a social entrepreneur from Puducherry. As a dynamic social worker, Fareeda began her journey in 2005 when she created a women’s only self-help group (SHG) in Orleanpet region of Puducherry. Soon, she had formed two more SHGs. Once every month, she would organise a meeting with each SHG at her house…
Kiran Kumari lives in Mansoorpur town of Bihar. She is the trainer and coordinator at CIRC Mansoorpur. Kiran (28) and her husband Raghav have been consistently working towards the upliftment of her community. A runaway couple spent their initial years after marriage at the Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan. There, Raghav used his experience of…
mBillionth Awards has launched its 7th edition to explore, recognise and honour excellence in the field of mobile innovations, applications and content services for development and empowerment across South Asia. We are now accepting nominations for mBillionth Awards 2016. If you are the brain behind an innovative mobile app or technology that is empowering the…
In the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, mirrors are one way to reach out to each other
This article was first published in the Mint newspaper on March 2, 2016. This is a story of communities whose world of knowledge, skills and wisdom lies in oral and audio visual communication. Despite being functional illiterates, their current generation is fast adopting digital tools and media to leverage their traditional skills, like folk music—not just…
Trai has rebuked telcos and the likes of Facebook which had introduced Free Basics as a content service in the name of providing free access to the Internet
Sikar is the 24th district of Rajasthan wherein ‘Jawaabdehi Yatra’ has witnessed an abysmal picture of stone mMining when the team was invited to visit Shuklawas village in Kotputli. The entire village is severely affected by illegal stone mining and its deadly impact where debris from blasts can be seen on houses, fields and even schools. With…
CIRCs across the country have collectively achieved the target of making over 6,000 people digitally literate in the months of November and December 2015. Elaborate planning, meticulous steps, constant support and regular mobilisation has helped CIRC staff across India to strengthen their connection with the grassroots, and enabled them to communicate to the masses the…
India’s craft traditions and skills, passed on from generation to generation, are not just an important part of its cultural identity but a crucial means of sustenance for numerous communities. As per unofficial figures, there are about 20 crore artisans who form the backbone of India’s non-farm rural economy. Keeping this in mind, DEF in…
Taking forward the partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, an independent non-profit committed to promoting liberal policy and politics, we are hosting a summit on ‘Individual Rights in the Age of Digital Medium’ in Bengaluru, Karnataka on September 30, 2016. For the same, we invite papers on themes around (i) Access, Openness & Diversity; (ii)…
