I have coined a new job role—agent of the Internet and information—and the inspiration for this is the unusual story of two Indians who are spearheading the use of the Internet for empowerment. One is a 27-year-old former electrician and the other is a 67-year-old womansarpanch, the head of a village council. Both are dedicated…
I often use the phrase “bottom of the pyramid” to refer to that part of the untapped markets of the world that has people living on less than $2 a day. And I have realized that in India, home to 345 million poor people, you cannot be a sustainable consumer unless you are a producer. I…
Traditionally, literacy means the ability to read and write. By that measure, a fourth of India’s population is illiterate, according to the 2011 census. If, however, we look at functional literacy, one that extends beyond the ability of rudimentary reading and affixing a signature to paper, my personal experience says close to 40% of our…
According to the Wired magazine, the only handwritten newspaper in the world is in India. The Musalman has been published daily since 1927, written in Urdu by calligraphers known as katibs. According to the Handwritten Newspapers Project (handwrittennews.com), the only entry from India is the The Musalman, as registered on 15 July 2011. But that is not true. There is another…
In the three years since the mBillionth awards began, we have accumulated more than 5,000 case studies on how people are innovating and using information and communications technology, mobile phones and the digital media for social and economic empowerment In the 21st century, technology is medium, media is access, access is empowerment, and empowerment is…
In India, if true development has to be designed and pursued, it requires multi-stakeholder integration of issues and solutions. Kutch is the largest district in India with about two million people spread across 966 villages with 70% literacy. Kutch is also fast industrializing because of which, local communities say, crime and alcoholism have been rising.…
An effort to connect villages BBNL should function like an Internet service provider so that everyone at the village level would be able to avail of the connectivity for a payment and demand quality service There is a lot of excitement around how we will be able to reach out to each and everypanchayat (village council)…
There is a serious lack of awareness about Internet among all the villages of India Forty-one years after the first email was sent, Internet penetration in India is still terribly low. In fact, an industry insider said, “If you ask me truly, regular Internet users in India are not more than 10 million or so.”…
With the proliferation of digital revolution, the 21st century is all set to be dominated by connected and information society How old is India? How youthful is this country and what is in store for the next generation? How youth-focused are our policies? These thoughts emerged in light of the draft National Youth Policy, 2012,…
India has more than 900 mn mobile phone connections, yet we suffer from information poverty and have not been able to exploit this massive reach into converting ourselves into a knowledge-based society India is a country of extremes and always figures among the top few in all kinds of statistics, and yet falls behind on…
