In Koraput district, Odisha, lies a remote village called Kanjariguda which is home to an Adivasi community of farmers who predominantly grow ragi and rice. The village is so remote that villagers have to walk several kilometres—across forests and mountains—to hull their rice or access basic services such as mobile charging, photocopying or printing.
In 2019, a women’s self-help group (SHG) established a decentralised rice and millet milling centre in Kanjariguda. This eased the drudgery that came with a lack of access to a mill for more than 500 rice farmers and 270 ragi farmers. Earlier, they had to spend much more time and money to get basic work done. Now, the income generated by the centre is equally divided amongst the SHG members.
Apart from milling, the centre also offers other essential services such as printing and mobile charging—services that are in high demand as they are…