As brought to our attention by InfoChangeIndia, the phenomenon of urban migration is a multidimensional issue, with social and economic repercussions, both for rural and urban India. As described in an article entitled, “This Land is Ours!”, as a result of urban migration, women in rural communities are undergoing changes in terms of their roles [...]

During the course of my work with SEWA Rural, a community health organization in rural Gujarat, India, I often wondered how mental health concerns would ever gain traction in a climate where community members suffered, and sometimes died from, such common ailments as diarrhea or anemia. Those with mental health problems (whether diagnosed or not), [...]

Studies have estimated that over $1 billion in possible venture capital financing has been infused into India in 2007. Instead of spurring a wave of innovative startups, however, this influx in capital has remained just that — surplus of capital. Unlike Africa or parts of Eastern Europe, the lack of wide scale SMEs in India [...]

Here is an amazing application of mobile technology. Initially started as a normal website www.indianblooddonors.com offering blood donors and recipient a place to exchange blood, a new service has been added to this website. Thanks to a newly activated service run by Nagpur based Khushroo Poacha, getting a Unit of blood is just an SMS [...]

Derek Newberry, a blogger at Nextbillion has a very interesting post on Ethics in the BOP Market. He uses the case of Fair & Lovely, the skin whitening cream marketed in India by Hindustan Lever, the Indian subsidiary of Unilever. The company has constantly used a advertising strategy that depicts women of darker complexion as [...]

There are few things hotter than BoP. One of them may be renewable energy, particularly solar (no pun intended) and wind. Well one would imagine that anything that combines these two fields of unusually high interest that there would be a flourish of activity on the ground. Not so fast argues Kenneth Westrick, CEO of [...]

Enjoy: Two Anna varsity campuses to be declared tobacco-free CHENNAI: On Wednesday, two campuses of Anna University in the city – MIT Chromepet and Guindy campus – will be declared “tobacco-free” zones. Weavers too may get loan relief Even as questions are being raised about the efficacy of its mega farm loan waiver, government looks [...]

As brought to our attention by NextBillion, Stephen J. Dubner and Steven J. Levitt, authors of Freakanomics, published an article in the NYTimes yesterday entitled, “Bottom Line Philanthropy,” in which they discussed the need for applying business models to philanthropic organizations for the purposes of sustainability and impact. The article highlights two individuals – Rafe [...]

Forbes published its annual report on the world’s billionaires this month, and as many of you may already know, 4 of the top 20 billionaires hail from India. Yes, Mittal (#3) and the Ambanis (#4 and #5) are on the list, but so is a newcomer – K.P. Singh (#8), a real estate baron. Overall, [...]

Over the past three years, the Indian economy has surged at an average rate of 9% per year, thereby bolstering India’s image as a formidable economic force on the global stage.  However, in order to sustain both economic growth and human development, the Economist, in its latest issue entitled, “What’s Holding India Back?”, contends that India [...]