Some good links on rural

The Nordic Council of Ministers is inviting applications for sustainable development grants.The deadline is 1 May.

Recently I wrote about "poor prefer private education". Here is a report that poor do get more benifit from private schools than their counter-parts.

According to a survey of egovernance projects, IT seems to be making higher impact in rural India compared to urban India. More details can be seen here.

Pico-hydro power generation is, a pilot project, to meet the energy needs of small communities in the hilly areas in Nepal (funded by UNDP).

INTERACT project (Sustainable Groundwater Management in Rural India) is a collaborative effort of several Indian research institutes with funding from UK's EPSRC. This research work is to enhance competitiveness in the field of Geoenvironmental Engineering, Sustainable groundwater management and Public Health issues.

Last year I wrote about Intel's project related to dust-free PC. Now Via technologies, with the support of IIT Bombay, developing a computer that can withstand erratic power supply and the heat and dust of rural places.

Cheaper 'blackberry' type gadget for rural india

Motorola (thro project at IIT Bombay) and Microsoft (independently) are developing a communication device using which "one can receive and make calls, check mails and use data services".

Rural India's market size in 2020 : $ 500 billion

Mckinsey recently surveyed rural India for Bharat Nirman project and concluded that rural India's market size in 2020 would be US $ 500 billion. According to survey: Of the 593 rural districts in India, 67 were classified as urban cousins, 118 close to rural economic centers, around 160 with basic minimum infrastructure and 248 are deprived.

Are you taking note of Green-Tech future?

According to this news:

Kleiner Perkins [Venture Capitalist firm] plans to set aside $100 million of its latest $600 million fund to technologies that help provide cleaner energy, transportation, air and water. "This field of green-tech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century," Doerr said. "There’s never been a better time than now to start or accelerate a greentech venture."

Kleiner Perkins’ plan to ramp up investment in green technology is just the latest sign of the new sector’s growth. Also known as clean technology, the field includes technologies related to water purification, air quality, nanotechnology, alternative fuels, manufacturing, recycling and renewable energy.

North American venture capitalists invested more than $1.6 billion in clean-tech companies last year, a 35 percent increase over 2004, according to a report by the Cleantech Venture Network.