New Age of Sustainable Capitalism: Business Models to Drive Growth and Social Change (Collection), The

ITC e-Choupal: Technology for the Poor

Most people would agree that information technology has changed their lives—linked them to the global community, enabled them to share vital business data, and even provided entertainment and opportunity. For the rural poor, in countries such as India, this “connection of the times” to the world has been denied and has been far out of their reach, until now.

Picture, though, an agricultural village where a farmer goes to a computer and does something as simple as check the weather. In the past, unreliable weather information might result in prematurely planted seeds being washed away by early rains. Other farmers exchange information about crops and agriculture, mutually investigating approaches that allow ...