From April 3-5th, the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (Kerala) will be hosting a conference entitled, “Marketing to Rural Consumers: Understanding and Tapping the Rural Market Potential.”  The purpose of the conference is as follows: The emergence of rural markets as highly untapped potential emphasizes the need to explore them…Surge in the publications on rural marketing [...]

A report released by Greenpeace titled “Blue Alert – Climate Migrants in South Asia: Estimates and Solutions” focuses on how climate change will cause major migration shifts on the South Asian subcontinent in the coming century and offers policy recommendations. Looking at India and Bangladesh alone, approximately 125 million migrants, comprising about 75 million from [...]

There is currently an ideological debate brewing in Bombay regarding the preservation of ancient structures versus urban modernization.  The building in question is the 139-year Crawford Market in Bombay, which is facing the threat of demolition by RNA Corp., a leading Bombay construction firm that hopes to replace the building with a high-rise. The Supreme [...]

The purpose of this internship is to develop business for Source for Change, an all-women rural BPO, and to expand the capabilities of its local entrepreneur (Attachment here Source For Change.doc). The interns will be responsible for: Generating new business opportunities in data-entry and digitization services Training a local entrepreneur and developing operational processes to deliver [...]

Every year, over 15,000 people apply for gun licenses in Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh, but only 500 are actually granted.  Manish Shrivastav, the administrative chief of Shivpuri, decided to capitalize on this differential by instituting a program that offers “fast-tracked gun licenses for those who agree to be sterilized.”  Shrivastav hopes that this plan will incentivize [...]

Media is a powerful tool for raising awareness about important social issues. AIDS JaaGO is a series of short films that highlights “the human dimension of the disease” in India. The films cover the topics like migration and prejudices as they relate to AIDS. By employing high-profile stars with well-known directors like Mira Nair, the [...]

Looking to develop and refine your research and journalism skills? Interested in covering development and the role of science and technology in this process? If so, apply to SciDev.Net‘s 3 month internship this summer. In addition to daily tasks such as writing and researching news stories, the intern will learn about all aspects of how [...]

OneWorld South Asia reports today on the importance of black carbon emission reductions. According to the site, 400,000 women and children die due to smoke inhalation in India alone, and 35% of the world’s black carbon output comes from India and China. Researchers found that efforts to find alternative technology could reduce heating caused by these [...]

Marico Innovation Foundation’s Innovation for India Awards 2008 took place on March 19 in Mumbai. Over a 100 entries out of total 205 were about social impact, indicating that there is a large level of activity occurring in this realm. For example, one of the winners is Bhinge Brothers, who redesigned the treadle pump for [...]

Here is a video of someone describing the new Tata Nano (from Kamla Bhatt): [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=pUcap1TbCxw] Enjoy