A PROJECT REPORT ON

SUSTAINABLE RURAL LIVELIHOODS

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR AWARD DEGREE OF

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

Submitted by Submitted to

Megha Gupta Ms. Anuja Sharma

1402041101

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Mr. Sameer Rawal (Innovation Coach)
Ms. Saloni Jha (Design Coach)
TCS Digital Impact Square
Nashik, Maharashtra

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

JECRC University, Jaipur
 TABLE of CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Company Profile 1

1.2 Executive Summary 2

2. PROBLEM ANALYSIS 3

2.1 Challenge 3
2.2 Support 3
2.3 Opportunity 3

3. METHODOLOGY 4

3.1 Research Work 4

3.2 Field Visit 5
3.3 Technology Adoption life cycle 5
3.4 Secondary Research 6

4. OBSERVATIONS 8

4.1 Current Scenario 8

4.2 Pain Area 8
4.3 Cause 8
4.4 Effect 8
4.5 Opportunity Area 8

5. NEXT STEPS 9

5.1 Learning 9
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Company Profile

Digital Impact Square (DISQ) is an online platform and a physical location at

Nashik, Maharashtra. Students, young startups, and budding entrepreneurs from
across India can participate at DISQ. It is an open social innovation platform
designed to enhance the lives of citizens. The platform encourages innovation using
digital technologies, to address the needs of citizens through their voice and that of
the local administration, government, and industry.

Digital Impact Square:

o Is a living lab where research and technology from academia and industry
influences everyday life.
o Fosters a culture of innovation through a series of sustained innovation cycles.
o Accelerates the journey of many from being ideators to entrepreneurs,
researchers or corporate leaders.

DISQ builds a culture of innovation. It is a unique opportunity for you to develop

into an entrepreneur and a thought-leader, while creating a huge impact on the
lives of people. At DISQ you will:

 Work on curated research areas and challenges, derived through

engagement with diverse stakeholders including citizens, industry,
academia and the local administration
 Leverage cutting edge research assets, and accelerators from the likes
of MIT Media Lab, TCS and other leading Industry partners
 Participate in an open innovation platform that can help you evolve
from an ideator to being an innovators, career researcher, entrepreneur
or corporate leaders
 Have access to mentors from the industry, academia, and government
 Qualify for the opportunity to be a visiting innovator at TCS, the
Media Lab or industry collaborators
1.2 Executive Summary

WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE?

About 2/3rd population lives in rural India which comprises of 70% workforce in
rural areas. The rural economy accounts for 46% of national income.
The total rural households accommodate 17.97 crore of population.
The challenge is to create sustainable rural enterprises.

WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT?

 Sustainable ecosystem for rural communities
 Inclusive economic growth
 Enhanced livelihood opportunities
 Less rural urban migration

WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN INDIA?

 In the next 10 years, 110-130 million Indian citizens will be searching for
jobs, including 80-100 million looking for their first jobs.
 Rural entrepreneurs have less risk bearing capacity due to lack of financial
resources and external support.
 Lack of proper and adequate infrastructural facilities.
 Rural India's dependency on agriculture.
 85% of rural population depends on agriculture and allied activities for their
livelihood.
 26% of rural India is poor.
 3/4th of rural households live with a monthly income of less than 5000 rupees.
 More than 50% of rural population is involved with casual labour.
 40% decrease in GDP contributed by agriculture from 1950 – 2013.
2. PROBLEM ANALYSIS
2.1Challenge
More than 70% of India lives in rural area and almost 80% of poor also reside in rural
areas. The lack of amenities, infrastructure and livelihood opportunities are forcing
more and more rural youth to migrate towards urban areas. In fact, India has one of
the fastest growing urban populations anywhere in the world! Unfortunately, this
migration is not necessarily allowing rural youth to be gainfully employed and
joblessness continues to be a significant challenge - both from a human development
index perspective as well as safety and security of our nation.

2.2Support

Another aspect that must be understood is the role that traditional knowledge has
played in supporting and enabling rural livelihoods. The use of Ayurveda and other
herbal medicines in rural health management are well known. Similarly, traditional
skills such as handicrafts, pottery, art and designs, agriculture and livestock – all are
still relevant and might perhaps even better some of the more modern or advanced
methods currently in use. This traditional knowledge and wisdom also provides a
unique opportunity to shape rural enterprises.

2.3 Opportunity

It is therefore imperative that we encourage, enable and establish rural enterprises that
help provide sustained livelihood to people and in turn help address challenges
associated with improving their quality of life and create greater value for them and
for the nation. There are many efforts currently underway – both by various
governments as well as private organisations and individuals towards sustainable rural
enterprises. However, most of these are often disjointed or non-collaborative and
hence ineffective at scale or where successful – often limited to a micro setup (a few
villages / single source of livelihood). The key challenges that are often faced in such
circumstances are:

 Lack of reliable, high-quality data around resources

 No in-depth understanding of how rural enterprises can be sustained by
integrating it into the daily lives of people
 Not being able to build a predictable and sustainable supply chain model that
can create a system of rural enterprises
 Inability to create and / leverage bottom up innovations to improve adoption
and scale
 Lack of relevant and useful knowledge base that is easily manageable and
accessible by all.
3. METHODOLOGY

3.1Research Work

Our ecosystem comprises of the following parameters :

1. Geography & Social Structure :
1.1. Village/Block/District/Cluster-Hamlets/Boundaries/Constituency
1.2. History/Timeline of the village ( From Sarpanch or Panchayat Officer)
1.3.Population/Households/Male-Female/Children/CasteDistribution/BPL
Households
1.4. Literacy Level- Male/Female
1.5. Social Structure:
1.5.1. Majority caste/Other castes/OBC/General/ST/SC
1.5.2. Languages spoken
1.5.3. Cultural festivals/Programs
1.6. Institutional Structure: According to proximity from the village:
1.6.1. Railway Station/Bus stations/ District
HQ/Tehsil/PHC/Veterinary
Hospital/PoliceStation/Bank/Market/School/PDS/GramPanchayat/Ang
anwadi/ Place of worship
1.7. Gender clock- Daily activities of Male/Female
2. Weather and Seasonality:
2.1. Weather:
2.1.1. Avg. Rainfall/Period of monsoon/Rainfed agriculture
2.1.2. Types of climate:
2.1.2.1. Hot/Humid/Arid/Cold
2.2. Temperature: Max and min temperature
2.3. Seasonality of crop pattern: Kharif/Rabi/Zaid
2.4. Seasonality of food availability
2.5. Seasonality of diseases- Data from PHC.
2.6. Period of Happiness and Sorrow
2.7. Seasonality of Migration
3. Natural Resources:
3.1. Land holding pattern
3.1.1. Total Area/Cultivable/Fallow/Wasteland
3.2. Water:
3.2.1. Source of drinking water and daily use-
Pumps/Pipeline/Wells/Borewell/Ponds
3.2.2. Distance from source to households
3.2.3. Availability of water throughout the year
3.2.4. Nearby Rivers/Dams
3.3. Forestry:
3.3.1. NTFP/ Firewood
3.3.2. Types of trees and bio-diversity
4. Infrastructure:
4.1. Roads- Inside/Outside/Connectivity to State and National Highways/Road
Quality
4.2. Electricity- Availability/ Irrigation
4.3. Drainage
 4.4. Communication- TVs/Radio/Mobile/Landline
4.5. Social Infrastructure:
4.5.1. Education- Primary/Secondary/Anganwadi
4.5.2. Health- PHC
4.5.3. Sanitation- Indoor/Outdoor
4.5.4. Community meeting place
4.5.5. Cultural place
4.5.6. SHGs/Micro-enterprises
5. Local economy:
5.1. Income sources- Agri/Labour/Job/Enterprise/Migration/Forest-Produce
5.2. Land holding pattern- Landless/Small/Medium/Large
5.3. Agriculture- Included below
5.4. Government Services
6. Market Linkage- Below
7. Expenditure Pattern-
8. Consumption of products
9. Sources of Credit
10. Village Committees
11. Government Schemes
12. Status of Women- Labour/Decision-making/Agri/Households

3.2 Field visit:

We visited a tribal village named Amale in Mokhada district to understand the village
level dynamics and technology adoption.
We tried to analyze the pain points of villagers, understand their behaviour and
observe the institutions involved. We synthesized into the POEMS format:

 People
 Organisation
 Environment
 Messaging
 System

3.3 Technology Adoption Life Cycle:

1. Innovators – had larger farms, were more educated, more prosperous and more
risk-oriented
2. Early Adopters – younger, more educated, tended to be community leaders, less
prosperous
3. Early Majority – more conservative but open to new ideas, active in community
and influence to neighbours
4. Late Majority – older, less educated, fairly conservative and less socially active
5. Laggards – very conservative, had small farms and capital, oldest and least
educated
3.4 Secondary research:

We analyzed data of the villages from the data available from Government websites
like Census, Water & Sanitation department, Health and Energy, etc.

Microsoft Excel: Analysis of Utilities (in %) of three villages

Households availing banking services

100
Radio/Transistors

90 86.1
Televisions

80
Computer With Internet

68.4
70 64.7 Computer Without Internet
59.6
60 Landline

47.7
50 Mobile

41.2
40 Both Landline & Mobile

30 24.624.2 24.1 Bicycle

21.1
20 17.3 16.5 Scooter/ Motorcycle

13.4
7 7.5 5.3
Car/ Jeep/Van

10 3.5 3.5 4.6 2.3

0 0 0 00 1.5 1.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 2.70
1.1 Households with TV, Computer/Laptop, Telephone/mobile phone and Scooter/ Car

0
Amale Amboli Rajewadi None of the assets specified above

Microsoft Excel: Analysis of Bathroom Facilities (in %) of three villages

70
61.4 62.3 62.6
60

50

38.6
40 36.5 Bathroom with roof
31.6
Enclosure without roof
30
No Bathroom facility
20

10 5.9
0 1.2
0
Amale Amboli Rajewadi
 Microsoft Excel: Analysis of Fuel Used (in %) of three villages
120

100 100
100
Fire-wood
83.5
Crop residue
80
Cowdung cake

60 Coal,Lignite,Charcoal
Kerosene
40 LPG/PNG
Electricity
20 13.5
Biogas
0 0 1.9 0 0
0
Amale Amboli Rajewadi

Google Earth landscape changes for Amale village: Analyses using Fast Stone Image
Viewer
4. Observations

4.1 Current Scenario

Lots of data is available around village infrastructure and resources, but all is
restricted to quantitative inputs only.
Lack of focus on local resources, skills & imbibing the feeling of ownership in rural
people.

4.2 Pain Area

The current livelihood interventions lacks the understanding of behavioural aspects

(people-centricity) of rural communities.

4.3 Cause

For accelerating the process of livelihood intervention, at times there is a gap in

grasping the distinct characteristics of the region, the local economy and the
aspirations of the people. It seems that there is an urgent need to develop something,
without considering if it really agrees with the people.

4.4 Effect

These initiatives have more often led to a significant dip in the enthusiasm of the rural
folk.
They are becoming conditioned and completely dependent on hand-outs and
assistance with almost no change to their livelihood scenario.

4.5 Opportunity Area

How Might We, address the issue of people’s needs and aspirations being ignored
while designing a livelihood intervention for rural communities and organisations
working with them.
• Improve adoption of the planned intervention
• Which will lead to sustainable livelihoods.
5. NEXT STEPS

To develop a platform which comprises of a tool to map the VILLAGE PROFILE &
COMMUNITY PROFILE in order to help NGO’s and other organisations
recommend a sustainable livelihood to villages.

5.1 Learning

 Model-village: Influencers, unity, community engagement, determination & co-

operation,
Resource conservation
 See things from micro or macro level.
 Tell people something to people on what we are going to do, to get data.
 Capacity building is must.
 Marketing for BoP: Awareness, Access, Affordable, Available; Development,
Design, Distribution, Demand, and Dignity.