This chapter presents an overview of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and philanthropic funding in India, and looks at the evolution of CSR governance and policies. It examines how Indian companies are doing on the CSR front, how the government is supplementing CSR efforts, as well as how...

Food and nutritional security of projected population of 9.7 billion globally and 1.7 billion in India by 2050 is the major challenge of the 21st century. Alongside the challenge is to improve farmers' income and upgrade agriculture as a business to make it attractive to the youth and generate...

Unabated soil degradation due to low soil organic carbon (C) levels, multiple nutrient deficiencies including micro- and secondary nutrients, rising salinity and soil loss due to erosion jeopardizes food security of swiftly rising global population projected to be 9.7 billion by 2050. Soils also...

The semi-arid tropics being dominant region is primarily agrarian with rainfed traditional agricultural production systems. Jawhar is a tribal block in Maharashtra, India characterized by high rainfall, water scarcity, degraded soils and low crop productivity. ICRISAT in collaboration with JSW has...

Asian Paints Limited and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) collaborated to improve rural livelihoods through integrated watershed development programme. Six villages in Patancheru mandal of Medak district, Telangana, India covering an area of 7143 ha were...

Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (RECL) supported an ICRISAT-led consortium to establish two watershed learning sites in Penukonda mandal (4 villages, 3150 ha of cultivated land and home to 8700 people) of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh and Wanaparthy mandal (4 villages, 3968 ha of...

Improved sanitation and hygiene through proper wastewater management is critical for sustainable growth of rural communities. Traditional wastewater treatment technologies experience low penetration in the resource-poor semi-arid tropical villages with limited or no access to good quality...

ICRISAT has been working with corporations since 2002 and subsequently a number of corporations and public-sector companies in India have come forward to help take science to the doorstep of the farmers through science-led development. This chapter summarizes a number of lessons from this corporate ...

This chapter discusses the use of drylands for food production. The dryland development dynamics at global level; food insecurity and crop yields in drylands; untapped potential of rainfed crops; and the key contraints in rainfed agriculture, focusing on soil health, are described. A meta-analysis...

This chapter describes the conceptualization of the Bhoochetana Project in Karnataka, India. The Bhoochetana project was launched to improve the livelihoods of the dryland farmers by increasing the agricultural productivity by 20% during a period of 4 years (2009/10 to 2012/13). The sole objective...