In the month of May, DEF adopted two more handloom clusters in Kollegal (Karnataka) and Pochampally (Telangana) with support from Microsoft under its Digital Cluster Development Programme (DCDP). Kollegal is located in Chamrajnagar district of Karnataka; and is situated on the foothills of the Western Ghat, providing temperature that is suitable for growing silk cocoons.…
Set in the West Garo Hills of Meghalaya, Tura is the largest town in this hilly region. The area is mostly inhabited by the Garo tribe. Amid this backdrop, CIRC Tura was set up here in 2014, with an aim to impart digital literacy, and provide access to information. In the last three years, the…
Every year, the world observes May 28 as Menstrual Hygiene Day to call attention to and ‘normalise’ menstruation. The day was also observed at Baank-e-Loom in Saidanpur, Uttar Pradesh, in collaboration with Water Aid and FICCI Lucknow-Kanpur. Just like the rest of the country, especially rural India, young girls’ and women’s potential in Saidanpur, too,…
As many as 60 people participated in a day-long programme called Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao that was organised by DEF in Sonapur village, Dimoria block of Assam. In this village alone, DEF has provided training in digital literacy to more than 5,000 people and digitally enabled thousands of others through other services. DEF Programme Coordinator…
India and other South-Asian countries have leapfrogged technologically to adapt to digital lifestyles. The Government of India’s push towards digital initiatives and increasing ubiquity of digital tools and services renders it imperative to discuss what would be our lives in the digital world and how the definition would and context of being a digital citizen…
As much as 67 per cent of India’s population lives in rural India; and one billion Indians do not have access to the Internet. More than 300 million identified individuals fall under the category of below poverty line (BPL) who, by definition, earn less than a dollar a day. This is the same share of…
Jan Ki Baat (Voice of the People) is a bilingual (Hindi and English) digital media channel, which uses a network of citizen reporters to deliver news from across the country in the form of short video or audio file. Jan Ki Baat reporters are equipped with smartphones and are active users of social media platforms…
Malini Gupta Program Director RBS Foundation India Years ago, when micro finance witnessed a boom, I was a mere foot soldier in the larger war for equality. Our battles were many and our victories few and far between. At one frustration-fraught review meeting, one of our sagacious and pragmatic community leaders had brought us firmly…
A one-day ICT capacity building workshop was organised in Ranchi, Jharkhand, on April 9, 2017, to make local NGOs comfortable in using Google applications and other digital tools that are available for Indian non-profits to improvise their operations and management. Around 65 representatives from 52 NGOs participated in the workshop that focused on Google for…
#HumansOfSaidanpur is trying to share simple stories of everyday life from Saidanpur village in Uttar Pradesh through Baank-e-Loom’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. The inspired hashtag is an effort to make people aware of India’s rural culture and connect people from urban spaces to rural stories. Baank-e-Loom is a project initiated by DEF in partnership…