By Abner Manzar About five kilometres from Tamil Nadu’s Musiri, a famous weaver cluster, is a small village in the district of Trichy called Manamedu. At its heart is a computer centre equipped with everything required to digitally enable the community’s weavers. An initiative of Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and Mphasis, the center is a…
Champe Khan was struggling to sustain himself and his elderly parents living in Baytu, in Rajasthan’s Barmer district. A differently-abled person from a poor family, Khan had been facing discrimination and other hardships all his life. He had been unable to avail the government’s Disability Pension due to lack of awareness and documents. DEF’s Samarth…
A farmer from Murpa in Jharkhand, Rajkapur Mahto bought a smartphone thinking his life would become easy. Post the purchase he realised that his illiteracy acted as a huge wall between him and the benefits he had imagined to reap. Soon he connected with our Samarth SoochnaPreneur (SSP) and got to know about Google Assistant,…
DEF’s implementation of STEM for Girls classes has witnessed support and love from not just students but also their families. Sarayu is a student of 8th standard in a school in Telangana’s Yerrupalem area. She, along with her sister Sayura, is enrolled with the program. The entire family follows the class, especially their father Srinivas,…
Functional Literacy Program is an initiative of lndia@75 Foundation which aims on imparting digitised content comprising of basic digital and financial literacy. This in turn will increase life skills and employability amid the economically weaker sections (EWS) living in urban areas. The initiative is under process across seven locations – Almora, Delhi, Ghazipur, Guna, Ranchi,…
The Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) initiative aims to reach out to vulnerable and marginalised community members with Covid-19 specific information on preventive awareness and de-stigmatisation. Ongoing in almost 500 centers across 16 states, including 69 districts, it revolves around the themes of Covid-19 Appropriate Behavior (Prevention and Practices; and Stigma and Discrimination), Covid-19…
By Osama Manzar When the coronavirus pandemic set in and a rigid lockdown brought life to a standstill across India, millions of migrant workers left cities and headed back to their villages to be with their families. They carried with them their sparse belongings in small suitcases and backpacks, but their most valued possession was…
The Martalli Grama Panchayat in Kollegal, Karnataka had been facing connectivity issues. They were also unable to finish any documentation work regarding MNREGA, thereby bringing a halt to the lives of many workers under the scheme. They reached out to our Smartpur team in Kollegal – Palanimedu Spoke Center- for internet services and assistance. Our…
By Sarah Farooqui On 30 July, participants from Germany, India, Bolivia, Nepal and Pakistan took part in a digital RightsCon 2020 panel to bring perspectives from around the world to the topic of empowering citizens through media and information literacy. Each of the panellists highlighted their methods for dealing with misinformation in their own local…
Pariyabai Banjara, 75-year-old woman, lives with her husband in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. The couple had no means of livelihood and sustaining themselves was getting tougher by each day. Our Soochnapreneur Poonam met the couple during one of her field visits. After a detailed interaction with them, Poonam figured out that despite being eligible…
