I can’t remember the last time I praised the Indian media but this wonderful series on rural entrepreneurs deserves an unqualified round of applause. Brilliant!
One theme runs through each of these heartwarming tales: Self-help. People have improved their lives not due to gigantic government schemes but because they decided to transform their own lives. With a little bit of help from social enterprenuers.
How I wish Indian media carried more stories of this kind instead of going nuts over some Indian American kid winning a spelling bee contest or an idiotic Bollywood heroine who would disappear tomorrow.
Perhaps, one day. When, we, as a nation, get our priorities right.
Filed under: Media/Blog watch
When it comes to media, I doubt it. Given how popular Brittney and her escapades, Angelina and her babies, Johnny Depp and his latest hairstyle are among the masses, and since India (and other “developing” countries) is supposed to “develop” towards that, not gonna happen.
Thank you R!
Excellent piece. It’s truly INSPIRATIONAL to watch them-the enterprising small-towners, in action, a fundamental sustainable social change being demonstrated. Who needs Government?
perhaps media should burn 1000s DVDs of such inspiring Human stories in gullies n nukkads of India, n run those capsules in those cobweb-bed corridors of bureaucracy and stenching piles of infected corruption at leaders-beds.
We draw inspiration and confidence from such real n resilient human stories. Red-carpet walks, smiles n hugs, Hilton’s tet another steamy sexual escapades, Amitabhs visting the Ganesha temple, Aneglina Jolie’s Nomadic existence,withering charm of Brad Pitt, Jenn & John Mayer’s Hot Poolside Bikini Cuddling, Aishwarya’s Revealing Dresses at Cannes ……JUST JUNK MATERIAL to while away time! you know like a bag of Chips…munch, n munch n throw it away
I’ll add another one:
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/66391/daring-dalit-starts-green-revolution-against-myth.html
And Good News India (http://www.goodnewsindia.org/) always has news about people bringing about important and positive changes on a daily basis.
On a slightlly different note, check this device from
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4280
Ravi says “One of the things that I’m excited about is that this is made in a village and sold in a village. We sell it for 70 rupees [$1.75], which every village person can afford. There are very few technologies now [where that is possible]. A village can make things for the global market; that’s one of the current things. Countries like China, for example, are very good at doing that. But this is made and sold in villages in India, and I like that.
I came across this idea while I was on the Internet. Basically, I was looking for an efficient device to retain heat. I knew that hay was a good insulator. I was looking for solar heating systems. Through reflectors you can heat water up, but then, to keep the water hot, you have to put it into some insulating vessel which can be lined with hay, and it is a very low-cost insulator. And so, I was doing a search on the internet and I came across this idea of the hay box.
I read that the United Kingdom used hay boxes during the World War as a way to reduce fuel consumption in their country. And so, this is a known technology and what I realized was that this has a very good application for Indian villages in rural areas. And, immediately we tried to make it locally and then we were actually selling it to village people.
One of the fascinating things that this does for them is it also keeps food hot for eight hours. It not only helps with the cooking, but it will keep something hot — the rice stays hot for eight hours. They don’t have microwave ovens to heat up things and this is something that they are very excited about because they can get hot food any time of the day. “
Rohit,
I am not sure whether there is one recipe for development. There is also an interesting story of a govt. intervention through an energetic officer:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20080620251210200.htm
and NRI help (where internet plays a role) in:
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4280
and the story of an all women BPO in Gagar, Rajasthan from India Development Blog.
The anchor text is place incorrectly
In the phrase “rural entrepreneurs deserves an unqualified round of applause” you have left out ‘r’ 
Amit,
Perhaps. But I am hopeful.And thanks for the link to the Dalit story.
Jyo,
Welcome. I am glad you enjoyed it.
Gaddeswarup,
It was not my aim to suggest that there is one recipe for development or government has no role to play. What I was trying to say here was simply that development must be people driven and oriented towards making them stakeholders. I am distrustful of gigantic government schemes where corruption is the norm rather than the exception. I am much more inclined to support people-state partnerships like seen in the Assam story you linked.
And thanks for all the links.
gr8,
Yeah. But you can still click, right?
Rohit,
Sorry about too many comments; it seemed that the comments were not going through. I too am distrustful of gigantic centralized schemes. I iked some of Easterley’s comments here
http://blogs.ft.com/wolfforum/2008/05/trust-the-development-experts/#comment-13235
particularly his response to Paul Seabright.