June, 2024
'CALL FOR APPLICATIONS' for the Digital Swaraj Fellowship 2024-2025
Are you passionate about digital transformation and empowering underserved communities? Here’s your chance to become a digital change leader with the one-year Digital Swaraj Fellowship, running from September 2024 to August 2025. Gain hands-on experience in the rural digital landscape, develop innovative solutions to bridge the digital divide, and understand grassroots realities. With mentorship, skill-building opportunities, and the chance to create lasting social impact, this fellowship equips you for a meaningful career in digital domain and the development sector.
Apply Now and Join Us in Harnessing the Power of Digital to Bring About Real Change!
Cover Story
As the first cohort of Digital Swaraj Fellowship comes to an end, reflecting on the whole journey has been a mix of experiences, learnings and emotions. The seed that was sown a year back has started sprouting, and the aim, going forward, is to nurture it to become a full-grown tree in the coming years. This one-year journey has been enriching, intense and challenging. Read more
Osama has been a good friend, guide, mentor, and a well-wisher to me for the last nine years. He is a visionary with 20 years of experience in transforming the lives of people and discussing the importance of digital in our lives. He saw that in the coming years, digital would become an integral part of our lives, and communities need to be empowered to use it effectively. We connect on big ideas, visions, and dreams. Read more
Digital Op-Ed
Founded in 2002, Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has been dedicated to enhancing digital capacities, access, and rights for marginalised and underserved regions and communities in India. DEF’s initiatives span education, entrepreneurship, livelihood, health, agriculture, and more, with a particular focus on digital empowerment of women and youth. Through a robust network of 10,000 grassroots leaders, DEF has reached more than 2,000 locations across over 200 districts in 26 states of India. Building on this extensive work in bridging the digital divide in India in more than two decades, DEF identified a critical gap: the lack of institutions offering fellowships, courses, or specialised training for youth in the digital domain, especially focused on addressing the barriers hindering rural development.
Read more
Rural Immersion Experiences
By Maitri Singh
This is the story of Anjani Devi, a 32-year-old Digital Didi from the small village of Rajwapur, in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh. Despite her humble beginnings, Anjani’s journey has been nothing short of extraordinary, as she has donned various hats and played diverse roles to uplift her community, especially the women of her village. Anjani was born in Basantpur, Barabanki, and was married at the age of 16, when she was only a high school graduate... Read more
By Mili Dangwal
In the rapidly evolving digital world, deceptive baits like “Click the link to win a brand new car!” or “Congratulations! One lakh rupees have been credited to your account!” have become all too common. These traps exploit the unaware and misinformed, victimizing people daily. So, how does one become informed and resilient against such scams? Read more
By Shrishti Sinha
Riyaz Ansari was born in the year 1965, and into the profession of weavers; a community which is dying, starving, and moving away in hopes of a better tomorrow. Riyaz Ansari’s home is only one in a small colony of weavers who do identical work and earn identical wages; two hundred rupees a day for weaving threads into fabric. She is also only one of the weavers in a family of five weavers. Her fate and her story is only one of the many identical tales... Read more
By Swati Tiwari
In the heart of Madhya Pradesh’s Neemach district lies Bhagwanpura, a village that epitomizes the digital divide in rural India. The Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has taken on the challenge of bringing digital literacy and livelihood opportunities to this remote community and others like it in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district. Read more
By Punti Kumari
In the heart of Madhya Pradesh’s Neemach district lies Bhagwanpura, a village that epitomizes the digital divide in rural India. The Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has taken on the challenge of bringing digital literacy and livelihood opportunities to this remote community and others like it in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district. Read more
By Pratiksha Kamble
Meet Kanta, an ambitious woman from Alwar, Rajasthan, who had faced life-changing challenges with determination. Her childhood was not as simple as others. She experienced a life-threatening accident that made her physically disabled. The painful memories may blur as time passes, but the marks remain as they are. Kanta firmly made an incredible journey of empowerment and self-discovery. Read more
By Vikas Chinchkar
Chandan Singh Banjara, a resilient and determined individual, was born on the 1st of January 1986 in Chakdeopur, Guna. Life posed significant challenges initially, as he was born with a physical disability. Chandan’s father was the sole earning member of a family of ten. Despite the odds, Chandan’s family believed in the importance of education and enrolled him in a school in Chakdeopur in 1991, which provided education up to the 5th standard. As he progressed in his studies, Chandan had to travel six kilometres from his village to Umari for further education. Read more
Oral Bytes
Maitri Singh
Maitri Singh, born in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and raised in Delhi, is a postgraduate in English Literature from Ambedkar University, Delhi. As a founding member of the non-profit organization ‘Association for Parivartan of Nation,’ she has significant experience in education and social work. Driven by a profound desire to create a lasting impact, Maitri aspires to utilize the power of technology and digital platforms as catalysts for social transformation.
Mili Dangwal
Mili Dangwal, hailing from Uttarakhand, is a graduate with a BA (Hons) in Political Science from Delhi University. Having a keen interest in the social sector, she has been part of many projects related to education, and women rights and welfare.
Pratiksha Kamble
Pratiksha Kamble is a dedicated professional with a postgraduate degree in Biotechnology and a focus on working in the social sector. With an educational background in Biotechnology, she brings a unique blend of scientific expertise and social advocacy to her work. She has always been open to learning new things to upskill herself at every stage of her life. Additionally, she is an enthusiastic traveler and explorer. She loves exploring off-beat places. Moreover, her interest areas include reading books, meeting new people, and trying new technologies for the best use.
Shristi Sinha
Shrishti Sinha graduated from Azim Premji University with a Bachelors in Humanities. She holds a combined Humanities degree from Azim Premji University, where she developed a passion for exploring the intersection between digital technology and socio-economic inequalities. She enjoys writing on a variety of topics, creative and academic. She was also a part of the Youth Internet Governance Forum and India School on Internet Governance.
Swati Tiwari
Swati Tiwari comes from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. However, she moved to Delhi with her parents in early childhood. She is a postgraduate student in the Women and Gender Studies program at IGNOU. She is one of the founding members of the organization “Ideal Youth for Revolutionary Changes,” which primarily works with youth and adolescents. She has facilitated several sessions of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) with adolescents. She comes from an art background and has been using forum theater as a tool for creating social awareness.
Punti Kumari
Punti belongs to the Tarwan village in the Patna district of Bihar. She was keen on pursuing education since childhood, but her schooling started late due to the poor financial condition of her family. Along with her education, she has worked with many social organizations, which helped develop her understanding of the issues prevailing in society. She has overcome a lot of pressures from society as well as family, to complete her graduation and make a mark for herself. She works as a social activist and is rooted on the ground.
Vikas Chinchkar
Vikas Chinchkar, hailing from the Beed district of Maharashtra, has been exposed to grassroots-level issues since his early days. He completed his Masters degree in Urban and Rural Community Development from CSRD-ISWR institute in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra in 2023. During his academic years, Vikas volunteered in the Sanjaynagar slum area and Grampanchayat Kapurwadi in Ahmednagar District. This gave him the opportunity to interact with farmers, and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) of women and children in the village. With a strong conviction towards becoming a development sector professional, he worked on various areas such as education, gender differences, and health.
Expert Says
Digital Swaraj: Weaving Technology into India’s Social Fabric
The Digital Swaraj Fellowship is a well-conceived program that applies the philosophy of Swaraj (meaning ‘self-governance’) to digital innovation in a democracy. It draws inspiration from Gandhi’s principles and integrates them with the ideals of constitutional democracy, exploring how technology can be embedded into societal processes. Read more
eChampion
The Digital Swaraj Fellowship concluded its first Cohort 2023-2024 with a reflective three-day workshop from July 1-3, 2024, marking a significant milestone in the journey towards building a generation of youth for a robust digital ecosystem in India. This initiative, designed to bridge the ever-widening digital divide, brought together a group of young minds who underwent rigorous learning and transformation... Read more