Economics and Technologies

Community-based alternatives for production, consumption, and exchange

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This section features stories of initiatives that help to create an alternative to the dominant neo-liberal or state-dominated economy. These include: localisation of economic activity with democratic control, producer and consumer collectives, local currencies and trade, non-monetised exchage and the gift economy, ecologically sensitive products and processes, macro-economic concepts that respect ecological limits, and approaches to human well-being that go beyond growth, GDP and other narrow measures and indicators.

What we do not feature are superficial and false solutions, such as market and technological fixes for problems that are deeply social and political, or more generally, ‘green growth’ kind of approaches that only tinker around with the existing system.

From idea to community-owned enterprise: the journey of the Mukteshwar Farmers’ Producer Company (MKPC)

Based in Uttarakhand’s fruit belt, MKPC is a homegrown enterprise - started by a local NGO, but taken over by the farming community

Woman Collects Fish Waste From Stalls, Turns It Into ‘Fertifish’ to Grow Organic Veggies

When we have a solution to clear up our mess that is killing marine life right in front of our eyes we need to implement it

Unique school in Assam accepts plastic waste as school fees!

... to create a curriculum that would fit the students’ aspirations, enabling them and their families to build a better tomorrow.

B’luru Residents Turn Kitchen Waste Into 100 Kg of Biogas, Help Eatery Cook 3,000 Meals/Day!

Four tonnes of processed domestic waste generate 100 kg of bio-gas which is used by a restaurant to cook 3,000 meals a day.

Number crunching helps farmers manage water

“They realise that groundwater is a common resource, not private property, and hence requires collective action,”

TEDx Talk on Vikalp Sangam

An environmentalist inspires us to think and plan for the future, to focus on the positives, on the solutions, for a better life. He inspires us to dream.

Ping! Elephants ahead: reducing human-elephant conflict, one SMS at a time

Forest authorities registered over 35,000 mobile numbers for the pre-warning SMS alert system, apart from several local WhatsApp groups.

A brand new yarn: The return of handloom weaving in Kutch

Of renewed interest in weaving and about its allure in terms of economics, culture, identity, dignity, convenience, social ties, and innovation.

This NGO Recycles Old Clothes & Provides Free Cloth Pads To Tribal Women

Each cloth pad takes up around half a meter of material and needs to be disposed of in six months.