India is a diverse country with multiple cultures, traditions, languages and religions. We like to call ourselves an inclusive society, a society which looks beyond differences and is equal to all. However, we don’t take into account the differently-abled population. India is home to nearly 27 million differently abled people; they constitute 2.21% of the…
Jakhopur or as DEF likes to say ‘Jakhopur Smart Village’ is a typical rural village in Rajasthan with narrow lanes that turn into narrower lanes that lead to people’s houses. I entered one such lane and was greeted by a cow and three goats. A couple was sitting with their two children and I approached…
Bhagyalata runs a SoochnaPreneuer centre (digital service centre) in Chinna Kondur. With one laptop, one printer and one biometric machine she serves the community by providing digital skills that would have been inaccessible to them. Most of the people in the village and some people from neighbouring villages as well visit the centre to apply…
Seema Devi a woman entrepreneur from Khunti, Jharkhand who is engaged in lacquer bangle business, designs attractive and colourful bangles and sells them in the nearby market and contributes to her family income. She lives with her husband and two children. The main source of income for the family is by farming. The COVID-19 pandemic…
“My brother thought I was making a children’s diaper” said Shreemati Devi, a digital entrepreneur involved in the production of Smartpads. Smartpad is a re-usable sanitary pad. As Shreemati explained the benefits of using it a group of young boys stood around us listening to her. However, as they realized what she was talking about…
Located about 50 kilometers from Lucknow, Saidanpur is nowhere close to the capital in terms of development and education. The entrance into the village is with the ruins of various havelis that are about 150 to 200 years old. DEF’s digital center is located in one such dilapidated but refurbished ruins of a haveli. Noori…
Schools in India have finally re-opened after a long break because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To fight the pandemic and the deep digital divide that has come about and become obvious because of it, DEF set up a digital literacy classroom, Digigyan in a government senior secondary school in Karnawas, Haryana. DEF’s team from Delhi…
I saw a group of girls practicing embroidery at DEF’s digital centre in Chinna Kondur, Telangana. Deepika, the embroidery trainer who was herself a student earlier has been training girls for the last 2 years. The embroidery training enables these girls to earn a livelihood for themselves. This allows them freedom and helps them make…
Over the last seven years DEF has created a network of SoochnaPreneurs who serve their villages by providing digital services like access to government entitlements, digital financial services, tele-health services and computer classes. During the pandemic they became more active and spread information related to COVID-19, social distancing, the importance of masks and vaccination. In…
DEF’s centre in Chinna Kondur, Telangana is located at the main chowk of the village making it accessible to all. Jagdish and Vamsi, the project officers for DEF in the region took me around the village. An old woman saw us walking on the street and she shouted “Vamsi!!”, we turned and walked to her…
