WEBVTT

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- It\'s a mobile world, with
calls, texts, and apps to help

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make our lives easier.

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But not everyone\'s benefiting...

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yet.

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Can mobile phone apps
be designed to help

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make a better world?

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This series challenges app
developers from around the

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world to visit communities who
are missing out, and then come

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up with an app that
could help...

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a Life App.

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- Yes, yes, yes, yes!

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- This week, Life Apps is in
India, a country at the

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forefront of the IT revolution
and which has the world\'s

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third largest smartphone market,
but where one in four

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people can\'t read or write.

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- Sachin Gaur lives in Delhi,
the capital of India.

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He works in the secret side
of India\'s hi-tech boom.

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He has a double Master\'s in
Computer Cryptography, making

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computers safe from hacking.

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He also believes in using
digital technology to help the

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less fortunate.

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- India has over a billion
mobile phones.

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I believe social media and
mobile technologies have

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solutions to many
of its problems.

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My quest is to find answers to
help people who are living at

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the bottom of the economic
pyramid.

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- Sachin belongs to a collective
called MixOrg.

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They use technology to help
underprivileged communities.

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One of their ambitions is to
help India\'s beleaguered

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small-scale farmers.

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The challenge for Sachin is to
design a Life App, a mobile

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phone app to help bring
farmers a better life.

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In the local cafe, Sachin and
his MixOrg colleagues

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brainstorm some early ideas.

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- You\'ve read the sad
stories from farmer

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suicides and all that.

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So there is definitely some
problem on the ground which

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they are facing.

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And my intention is not to push
any technology to them,

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but my intention is to look
for a solution, you know?

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Which this technology can
provide because this is

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ubiquitous.

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This is something which is very
cheap in India, widely

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available, and available
at very cheap

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and affordable prices.

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If there is something you think
from a problem point of

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view which we can address?

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- Something that could really be
done is having a head plan.

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That is well known within
the village communities.

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- Or we can give them prior
information, like the season,

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how the climate is going to be.

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- And we have to start thinking,
and maybe a field

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visit is something which is much
more needed to validate

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our thoughts.

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- Sachin starts by setting up
a Facebook page to help

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research farmers\' problems.

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Particularly interesting leads
come from the huge southern

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state of Andhra Pradesh.

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So, Sachin flies south to state
capital, Hyderabad.

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It\'s the start of a 2,000
kilometer journey deep into

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rural India.

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- We just landed at the
Hyderabad airport.

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Hoping that I\'ll get enough
insights meeting those people

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on the ground, that what
are the problems

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farmers have been facing?

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And what is it that
ICT or mobile

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technology can do for them?

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- Sachin wants to hear
small-scale farmers\' stories

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firsthand, so he can find
ways an app can help.

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In Andhra Pradesh, seven out
of 10 farmers depend on

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seasonal rains.

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Decent rainfall can mean
a bountiful harvest.

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But weather patterns and long
term climate change can mean

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rains are early, late,
or fail all together.

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That can wipe farmers out,
and cause some to

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take their own lives.

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Sachin and local guide Pravin
visit Mr. Raidu, who runs the

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Community Managed Sustainable
Agriculture project, CMSA.

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It\'s largely helped eradicate
suicides in the 4,000 villages

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it supports.

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- The kind of sad stories we get
to hear about the farmer

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suicides and all that...

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- My imagination when
I was sitting in

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Delhi was very different.

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And today talking to you, now it
has already a bit changed,

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the stereotype about
rural women.

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- Sachin wants to meet farmers
like Vijaya, the woman who

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lost three family members.

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- very enthusiastic team
has come to film.

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Yeah, one or two villages.

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So tomorrow, they will
go straight away

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because you are there.

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- Two hours from Hyderabad
is Karimnagar,

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Vijaya\'s home village.

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SRI Farming stands for System
of Rice Intensification,

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planting young, spacing wide.

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Multi-crops is the growing of
several kinds of crops.

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These new ideas saved Vijaya.

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- Vijaya\'s story is remarkable.

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Despite all the hardship she has
been through, she has been

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able to get control of her life.

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I want to see this multi-crop
farming tomorrow that has been

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able to help her and
other farmers turn

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around their lives.

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- Vijaya turned her farm around
by using new methods

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her family had never
heard about.

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Sachin is thinking that stories
like this should be

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heard by a much wider audience.

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The next day, Sachin
heads deeper into

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Andhra Pradesh to Nandigama.

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Samuel\'s troubles include
expensive fertilizers, low

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crop prices, and drought.

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Samuel\'s story also has
a positive twist.

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He has found hope in
organic farming.

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In a land famous for its Green
Revolution, with its emphasis

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on fertilizers and man-made
chemicals, Samuel\'s taken

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advice to farm more naturally.

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Worms and insects keep the
soil healthy, and local

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organic matter feeds his crops.

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- Sachin has discovered how
farmers have improvised to

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deal with their problems.

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Samuel\'s neighbors Narayan
and Narsima farm a

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narrow strip of land.

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With Samuel\'s help, they rely
not only on organic farming,

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but on multi-crops, planting
several crops, not just one...

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Like rice.

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It\'s a blend of traditional
farming wisdom and modern

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scientific knowledge.

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- Narayan and his neighbors
now grow several crops all

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year round, not just the
standard old rice crop.

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They\'ve more than doubled their
income, an extra $2 a

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day each or more.

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The message Sachin is picking
up here in Andhra Pradesh is

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that some small scale farmers
are coming up with fresh ideas

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and initiatives.

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Too often, other farmers just
don\'t hear about them, but

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there are people trying
to change that.

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Santosha is with the CMSA Women
Self-help Group, in

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Ramayampet.

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She runs their organic
pest control store.

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She spreads the word using
very basic technology.

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She\'s using a pictorial way of
helping villagers remember new

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farming ideas.

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- I want to ask her if she\'s
given a mobile phone and she

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can tell all this, what she has
been telling us, say to

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most of the world, will
she be happy about it?

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Because she has that knowledge
or she has that confidence.

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- She\'s saying yes.

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- Verbal storytelling is
part of the cultural

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landscape of India.

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So Sachin needs to know
if Santosha will

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be happy using text.

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- So we want to do something
for them, we want to build

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something for them.

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Can I come to her again and
show her what I can build?

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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- Sachin is heading back to
Hyderabad to assess everything

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he\'s learned.

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It\'s becoming clear that a
mobile phone app could help.

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It could collect and disseminate
stories of better

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farming practice, like those
he\'s been hearing about here

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in Andhra Pradesh.

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- I see that this mobile
application which we are

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thinking of could really do
something of impact if we

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could package their
stories in a way

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that they do not struggle.

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You know, learning technology
instead, being what they are

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good at, which is telling their
own case studies in the

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way they are comfortable with.

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- Sachin wants to play to the
farmers\' strengths: verbal

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storytelling.

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In state capital Hyderabad,
stories travel fast.

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People cross-pollinate ideas
and experiences.

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Could farmers share ideas
in the same way?

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For inspiration, Sachin
is calling on

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the Honey Bee Network.

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For 25 years, Honey Bee has been
gathering up ideas and

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inventions from farmers,
entrepreneurs, and scholars

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across the world.

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They help with patents, funding,
and spreading ideas

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on the internet.

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So Sachin is calling on the
network\'s Brigadier Ganeshan

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to see how Honey Bee works
in Andhra Pradesh.

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- It is a real pleasure sitting
here because I have

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read a lot about Honey
Bee Network.

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- There is tremendously hidden
knowledge in the villages at

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the grassroots level.

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And they have the ability to
solve their problems to a

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great extent.

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And that\'s because they have
a harmony with nature.

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Solution identified by a farmer
for his own problem is

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required by many such farmers
in this country,

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if not in the world.

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Now, all of them are not so
blessed like this farmer who

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solves his problem.

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- Right.

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- But if they get this
technology, this innovation,

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then productivity of all of
them, millions of them, will

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slightly go at no cost.

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- I\'m so excited today after
meeting Brigadier Ganesham.

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These stories of farmers and
rural innovators are so

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amazing that I\'m dying to
meet them tomorrow.

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- So Sachin is off to meet one
of the farmers turned inventor

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whose ideas Honey
Bee is backing.

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After a nine hour drive,
he meets Saida Pathan.

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- How are you?

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- With electricity as sporadic
as the rains, power for

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irrigating farms is vital.

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Saida\'s answer?

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His $400 wind mill.

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Nearby in Sharajpet, women
weave beautiful saris.

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Chintakinda family are
farmers and weavers.

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So to help, he invented
the Asu machine.

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He wanted to save women weavers
the tedium and pain of

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repeating a single motion
9,000 times a day

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just to make one sari.

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- How are you?

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- Fine, very fine.

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- Sachin has now traveled over
2,000 kilometers learning

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about the innovative ways
India\'s farmers are improving

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their own lives.

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He\'s convinced mobile phones can
help people share ideas so

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everyone can benefit.

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- So two of my big worries,
whether people will have

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mobile phones and connectivity,
so that is

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already there.

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Whether they can afford
the mobile phone,

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that is already there.

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What is not there is a very
simple and intuitive solution

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for them so that they can use
these gadgets to tell their

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stories, share their questions,
doubts, anything

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where they are stuck.

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- Back in Delhi, Sachin\'s team
work with volunteers who have

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offered to help build his
story sharing Life App.

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- How we can utilize this mobile
app to solve real-time

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problems of these farmers.

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- So could see a picture,
and then click on it.

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- The idea they\'re settling on
is to use pictures and voice

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recordings instead of text.

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- So how we can do a system
which is for farmers where

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they can share, they can learn,
and they can build it

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and innovate.

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- They come up with a working
model, the Mobile Harvest app.

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It\'s an app that helps farmers
share stories and ideas and

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can be developed into a fully
fledged smartphone app.

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- I wanted to show you this
application which I have built

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for farmers in India.

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So with the help of a few
clicks, I am able to listen to

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a story, which could
be created from any

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corner of the country.

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- Back in Andhra Pradesh, Sachin
wants to field test his

00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:27.919
Mobile Harvest app.

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First, Santosha.

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Step one: The user logs in to
the Mobile Harvest app.

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Step two: Record the idea.

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Step three: Select
a suitable image.

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Step four: Share your
idea with the whole

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community via the app.

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So what does organic farmer
Samuel make of Sachin\'s Mobile

00:24:34.350 --> 00:24:36.120
Harvest app?

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With Sachin\'s Life App using
sound and images, you don\'t

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have to be fully literate
to use it.

00:24:54.750 --> 00:24:58.489
So what does Mr. Reidu, who
helped plan Sachin\'s journey,

00:24:58.490 --> 00:25:00.239
think of the prototype app?

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- My pleasure having a lot of
this valuable input from you.

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- I call it a \"literacy
neutral\" application.

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- Right, right.

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- I think it throws a very
exciting opportunity.

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And I hope that you\'re going
to launch a pilot with us.

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Then, I can give you better
feedback after we run through

00:25:20.800 --> 00:25:21.460
the pilot.

00:25:21.461 --> 00:25:24.019
- Now that I\'ve shown the
application to at least six

00:25:24.020 --> 00:25:28.159
people, and they all represent
different stakeholders, so

00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:33.149
right now I am very happy with
the work which has happened,

00:25:33.150 --> 00:25:35.969
with the feedback which I have
got, and there\'s a lot of

00:25:35.970 --> 00:25:39.099
detailed feedback which
I have got on which I

00:25:39.100 --> 00:25:40.519
want to work on.

00:25:40.520 --> 00:25:44.799
So from here, I want to to
develop this application, make

00:25:44.800 --> 00:25:49.609
it more robust, and take it
through the pilots, those

00:25:49.610 --> 00:25:53.709
trials, and make it something
which can be adopted

00:25:53.710 --> 00:25:55.119
nationwide.

00:25:55.120 --> 00:25:56.669
It\'s a long way to go.

00:25:56.670 --> 00:26:00.030
It\'s just the beginning
of the project.