Social entrepreneurship has become a buzzword today. But two broad trends may be changing the way we understand the concept. One is its Western orientation, and the other is corporatization. If you search “social entrepreneurship” on Google, most of the definitions and examples you will get will be from the Western world. Wikipedia quotes Bill…
In India entrepreneurship is a necessity for survival, but for higher scale growth and innovations to instigate entrepreneurship, it is time that we have Plug and Play kind of centres in each metro to start with, and we have enough big corporations to provide such facilities They call themselves “Silicon Valley in a Box”. They…
I am in a situation where I cannot but compare India and the US to bring perspective on how the information economy driven by information communication technology and digital tools will be led by India to make the world a better place. And the onus will be on India and Indians across the globe, and…
Tracking Livelihood Entitlements for Rural Communities is a mobile phone-based initiative to track the efficiency of the government’s public distribution scheme for food, pension schemes and the rural job guarantee scheme. It has helped more than 2,000 families in Orissa’s backward Keonjhar district gain access to the public distribution system and has had an impact…
The lack of digital connectivity is impeding development in one of India’s richest regions culturally and ecologically- the North-East. The government has put in place some policies and programmes to bolster the use of information and communication technology (ICT) here, but their poor execution means a colossal loss of opportunity for both the region and…
Let’s suppose Facebook is a nation. It is then the world’s third most populous nation, after China and India. It is perhaps the only nation whose citizens come from all parts of the world—where everyone lives harmoniously, meets and corresponds with each other seamlessly, shares information, thoughts and ideas openly. Everyone wants to be in this…
The government’s approach towards universal Internet access is marred by dichotomy. While the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, calls Internet one of the most effective means of communication and urges authorities to post more information online, some newly issued guidelines appear to be an attempt to gag freedom of online expression. The RTI Act…
The environment ministry has published draft rules to regulate the management of information and communication technology (ICT) waste. Although an important step towards sustainable development, the E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2010, likely to come into force next year, fall short on some key parameters. First, the rules fail to integrate the informal sector in…
India’s nearly 250,000 panchayats are the gateways to its villages, where the bulk of the population resides. The objective of e-governance cannot be realised without digitizing these village councils and ensuring that their three million officers are trained to be a part of the nationwide drive. Sadly, we are a long way behind. The country…
