Posted on July 11, 2009 by Raj Melville
In the past decade, much progress has been made in India and people have been justifiably proud of the improving economic situation. While most observers point to the top line numbers that show the number of people living below the “poverty line” has been consistently decreasing, by focusing on just these aseptic numbers, they fail to understand and capture the continuing anguish in the rural countryside.
Filed under: BOP, India, Poverty, Rural Consumer, Rural Development, Rural Education, Sanitation, Schools, bottom of the pyramid, water and sanitation | Tagged: Agricultural Development, BOP, George Foundation, India, Poverty, Rural Development, Rural Education, Shanti Bhavan, Social Impact, World Bank | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 16, 2009 by Raj Melville
For the first time TIECON EAST – TiE Boston’s annual conference on entrepreneurship and innovation – had a dedicated track on Social Enterprise. The three panels for the track were all well attended. Here are some excerpts from an article I wrote for Lokvani about the sessions.
Filed under: Agricultural Development, Conference, Food, Health, India, Information Technology, Investment, Micro-enterprises, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, environment, international development, micro-finance, microfinance, mobile technology, social Innovation, sustainability | Tagged: Agricultural Development, Boston, Conference, Food Supply, Health, India, Information Technology, internet, micro-finance, microcredit, mobile technology, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, sustainability, sustainable development, Sustainable ventures, TIECON | Leave a Comment »
Posted on May 13, 2009 by Raj Melville
Responding to a comment on my recent blog post on “The Increasing Focus on the Rural Indian Consumer” I decided to write a longer response outlining what needs to be done to really address increasing rural income in India.
Filed under: Agricultural Development, BOP, India, Poverty, Rural Consumer, Rural Development, Rural Education, Rural Entrepreneur, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, international development, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: Agricultural Development, BOP, eJeevika, rural BPO, Rural Consumer, Rural Development, Rural Education, Rural Entrepreneur, sustainable development, Vigyan Ashram | 4 Comments »
Posted on August 8, 2008 by Raj Melville
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the final presentation of the International Development Design Summit at MIT – the brainchild of Amy Smith, MacArthur Fellow and lecturer in MIT’s Mechanical Engineering department. This, now yearly, event brought together nearly 60 students from 20 countries around the world to work together with a team of mentors and staff to tackle a number of design problems facing NGOs and non-profits in developing countries.
Filed under: Agricultural Development, BOP, Education, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, international development, sustainable development | Tagged: Agricultural Development, Amy Smith, BOP, design, engineering design, IDDS, innovation, international development, invention, MacArthur Fellow, mechanical engineering, MIT, Rural Development, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, sustainable development | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 2, 2008 by Raj Melville
I had the opportunity to visit Vigyan Ashram in February. Vigyan Ashram is a residential rural education center founded 25 years ago. Over the years, Vigyan Ashram has significantly changed the local economy, providing livelihood to many in the region while training scores of youth and making them self sufficient. More importantly, it has now been formalized as a regular course on Rural Technology and taught at 25 schools in the state of Maharashtra.
Filed under: Agricultural Development, Education, Rural Development, Rural Education, Rural Entrepreneur, Social Ecosystem | Tagged: Agricultural Development, Education, India, Maharashtra, Pabal, Pune, Rural Development, Rural Education, Rural Entrepreneur, Social Ecosystem | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 27, 2008 by Raj Melville
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to spend a month in India and visited several NGOs while there. One of the innovative organizations is BAIF (Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation) — I visited their operations outside of Hubli in Northern Karnataka state and wrote an article about their work for Lokvani.com, that I have reproduced below
Filed under: Agricultural Development, Rural Development, Rural Entrepreneur, Water, Water resources | Tagged: Agricultural Development, BAIF, ecology, ecosystem, Hubli, India, international development, Karnataka, Manibhai Desai, rainwater harvesting, Rural Development, Water, Water resources | Leave a Comment »
