Cover Story
- Ritika Mittal's persistence is reviving cotton weaving in the Northeast.
- Technology is becoming an enabler for rural folk. It is not only helping marginal farmers increase revenues, but also revolutionising education, health care and financial inclusion.
- Gujarat's success at improving agricultural productivity through check dams is inspiring other states.
- How dedicated officials in Ernakulam ensured every single adult there opened a bank account.
- National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, provides free legal aid to the underprivileged.
- Yoga, one of India's greatest exports and one that has shaped the country's image overseas, took off in the 1960s owing to the growing interest in mind-body therapies.
- New roads and bridges are bringing people closer than ever before, as well as brightening business prospects.
- Krishi Gram Vikas Kendra, an organisation supported by the Usha Martin Group, helps Jharkhand villagers improve their livelihood.
- Precision farming eschews the traditional haphazard approach to agriculture.
- Hindi cinema is winning larger audience in countries which have sizeable populations of Indian origin, suggesting that locals there, too, are not entirely oblivious to its charms.
- A number of business leaders and corporate houses are funding free, quality education for the deprived.
- The mobile value-added-services industry is seeing a huge shift from merely providing ringtones and Bollywood wallpapers to customers. A new breed of mobile entrepreneurs offers education, health and agriculture solutions over the phone.
- More and more sportspersons outside the world of cricket are getting corporate endorsements.
- Experienced entrepreneurs and former corporate honchos are coming out to support start-ups.
- Mountain Shepherds is using ecotourism to improve the living standards of the Bhotiya people.
- Bangalore-based Unnati imparts vocational skills to young people from deprived backgrounds, for free.
- The start-up landscape in India could, however, transform soon once the Union government announces a National Entrepreneurship Policy.
- New import terminals will substantially increase the country's capacity to import gas for power generation.
- An architect's initiative to clean Delhi's drains and use the land around them for public purposes is picking up pace.
- The landmark Act has given succour to millions of marginal people across the country since it was first notified in 200 districts in February 2006
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- Delhi University's Bachelor in Elementary Education course has become a benchmark for teacher training programmes.
- Indian writing in English has proved its consistency and global appetite for Indian writing in English continues to grow.
- How efforts of a scientist prompted local authorities to make rainwater harvesting compulsory in the heart of Bangalore.
- In November 2012, Shimoga in Karnataka became the first Indian city to create digital data of every property, recording even fingerprints of property owners.
- The Madurai-based hospital blends social commitment with quality health care. It examines and operates most patients for free.
- Amit Bhatia's Aspire India is on a mission to make young graduates more employable - help them develop skills and get better jobs.
- With a wide range products and technology in place, the bank has been giving its rivals a run for their money. A far cry from predictions that a state-run bank would get hurt by increasing private sector competition.
- There is a growing organised sector processing e-waste in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.
- Increasing competitiveness is forcing companies to be more productive, and the cloud offers a means of increasing the efficiency of employees.
- How the advocacy campaign by Trilochan Sastry's team against the criminalisation of politics is making an impact.
- Indian cuisine, adapted to local sensibilities, is slowly but surely moving into the fine dining showgrounds of the West, where French and Italian dishes rule.
- Health insurance schemes launched by state governments in Karnataka and Maharashtra are benefiting people in rural areas and the poor.
- The water saved by drip irrigating paddy - as much as 40 per cent of current usage - can be used to irrigate a larger area.
- India's space missions are building up its soft power by changing how the country is perceived. Its space applications have an impact on the lives of millions.
- After 66 years of Independence, we present 66 reasons to believe that the current despairing mood about the country's situation may be misplaced.
- Delhi-based designer Sumit Dagar is developing a smartphone that can include the blind in the mobile phone revolution.
- Tarun Bharat Sangh, a water management organisation, is transforming villages in Rajasthan.
- In terms of living standards, Surat is ahead of other cities. And that has led it to be cited as a model for other cities seeking to urbanise in an orderly fashion.
- How a well-run panchayat has changed the fortunes of a village in Maharashtra.
- A gas pipeline from Gujarat to Jammu & Kashmir is raising the expectations of people in India's northernmost state.
- In a country with a poor track record of implementing government schemes, the Bill's noble intentions will fall flat if there are no systemic corrections - the public distribution system (PDS) and ICDS have been widely exploited by racketeers.
- Literacy levels in poorer states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are improving.
- In a best case scenario, the constitutional bill relating to GST can be put to vote by September or October 2013. This assumes the central government and the states are able to agree on a framework for GST in a few months.
- Mobile is enabling even disadvantaged sections to go online. For millions and millions of Indians, mobile phones will become the first computer they have used.
- The RTI Act allows any Indian citizen to participate in governance by enabling her or him to seek information about Central and state government activities.
- It is not quite apocalypse yet, but there is less and less of water available to India's fast-expanding cities. The water table in urban India is dropping scarily as water is sucked out from the ground by apartment blocks, and at a bigger scale by industrial consumers.
- NIIT's initiative to introduce chess in school has become increasingly popular.
- The Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing is leading efforts to make India a supercomputing power.
- The proliferation of solar power farms will give the Indian electricity market a jolt in the next five years.
- Maharashtra's mission to track and prevent child malnutrition is yielding results.
- Erode Precision Farm Producer Co Ltd is a 'producer company' - one of 150 such across the country - which has farmers as shareholders.
- Neurosynaptic was founded in 2002 by Sameer Sawarkar and Rajeev Kumar, who are part of a growing breed of social entrepreneurs who start businesses not just to make profits but also to find innovative solutions to the problems of the underprivileged.
- With around 210 million Aadhaar, or unique identification numbers having been generated so far, the enormous promise the project holds is slowly being realised.
- Philanthropy is no longer limited to age-old business houses. Many new businesses, as also successful professionals, are giving back.
- Growing rice using 'direct seeding' technology promises to cut water usage and production costs.
- The success of dairy cooperatives has made India the world's largest milk producer.
- Gram Tarang trains young people from backward and Naxal hit corners of Orissa.
- Thousands of self-help groups are helping millions come out of poverty.
- Green buildings that optimise use of resources will be the key to ensuring successful urbanisation of India
- Many highly-skilled non-resident Indians are now returning to the country - for different reasons. For some it is family concerns, for others, because unlike before, there are now enough professional and entrepreneurial opportunities available.
- Over the decades the mid day meal scheme has made a great difference to school enrollment.
- In the past few years, start-ups have been popping up all around India. Most of them are in the big Indian cities but steadily the wave is sweeping over small cities, business schools and engineering colleges.
- It has taken a long time, but piped natural gas is slowly replacing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) packed in cylinders as fuel across industrial units and kitchens in several pockets of the country.
- A virtual collaboration by thousands of researchers could reduce the cost of developing life-saving drugs.
- Despite tough times, Indian companies have plenty of reason to grow globally
'India will turn into a middle class nation'
Former P&G India CEO Gurcharan Das says the growing middle class will bring about a defining change in Indian politics.'Company boards need to be vigilant for good corporate governance'
Company boards have to be more vigilant for good corporate governance in India.Chaitanya Kalbag on Hope - the theme of BT's 21st anniversary issue
We have been beset by an avalanche of negativism and often it seems that we have an especial talent for extracting defeat from victory, misery from happiness, and calamity from good news.Change in India can be brought about by the entrepreneurial people: Arun Maira
In diverse and democratic India, change for the people can be brought about with the energies of entrepreneurial people around the country, says Arun Maira, a member of the Planning Commission.Indian cities need a wide range of urban transport solutions: Vinayak Chatterjee
In the last five years or so, there has been a huge surge of interest across cities in urban transport solutions, largely due to the success of the Delhi Metro, says the chairman of Feedback Infrastructure.
'India will stay young bubbling with energy'
A young population typically translates into a nation that is high on aspiration, is willing to take risks, will spend more, and, in general, is more demanding... in the coming decades, India will stay young bubbling with energy.
