Mass Access is about scaleable innovative inventions. Solutions that reach their maximum potential in a land housing 2 billion people because they are super relevant, clever, and not to forget affordable! Those which hit the spot because they answer local needs through surprisingly creative ways and on a large scale at that!
Image courtesy: www.m4mum.com
Mobile 4 Mumbai simplifies bus travel across Mumbai without SMS or GPRS. A quick and easy software download and transfer to the mobile allows a person to search bus routes and numbers with ten key strokes in less than 10 seconds! And the best part is, it works on the most basic mobile phones and is extremely user friendly.
Image courtesy: www.gaonkiawaaz.wordpress.com/
From bus routes to daily local news.
Gaon Ki Awaaz or village voice is a rural news bulletin launched by the International Media Institute of India using the mobile phone as a broadcast tool. News alerts are transmitted twice a day to villagers living in and around the Rampur-Mathura village of Uttar Pradesh, located 76 Km from Lucknow as voice messages, on their phones, in the local language, Avadhi. This is a boon for many of these people who are illiterate. News ranges from weather forecasts to crop price information to thefts to childcare to prayer meetings and more. The services are also used for rural advertising, complaints against social abuses, human rights issues, etc.
What started with only 25 villagers, reached a base of 250 in the first six months. Gaon Ki Awaaz is about empowering the rural masses through information dissemination.
Image courtesy: www.conserveindia.org
This subtrend speaks of uplifting the masses by involving them in a process that elevates their status and links them to a totally upmarket and niche end product that they will help produce.
Conserve India, an organisation in Delhi reduces India’s mountain of waste and helps it’s millions of rag pickers. They upcycle plastic bags, tyre rubber, old denims and saris collected by the rag pickers into HRP (Handmade recycled plastic). In collaboration with top designers, Conserve India makes high-end fashion items like handbags, wallets, shoes and belts from the handmade recycled plastic. On an average, a conserve ragpicker earns around Rs.3500 a month compared to a ragpicker who earns somewhere around Rs.1250.
By buying Conserve’s products one not only gets to be a trend setter in fashion, but also gets to help some of India’s poorest people and its environment.
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