How grassroots innovation can drive India's economic transformation

Across India, regions dependent on single industries are struggling with economic shifts, climate challenges, and changing consumer demand. Large-scale government programmes are essential. But they often lack the flexibility to address specific needs of such regions. This is where local interventions led by NGOs and philanthropic partnerships can serve as testing grounds for broader economic transformation.

One such initiative, ‘Supplemental Income for Tea Estate Workers’ in the Darjeeling Region, is proving that grassroots solutions can unlock new economic opportunities where traditional industries are failing.

Spearheaded by the Darjeeling Welfare Society in partnership with the Gates Foundation and Grant Thornton Bharat, the project is offering a sustainable alternative for thousands of tea estate workers.

The Supplemental Income initiative is a structured intervention aimed at revitalizing nearly half of Darjeeling’s closed tea gardens through enterprise creation, vocational training and skill development, market linkages financial access and corporate partnerships and policy integration.

The programme seeks to increase household incomes by up to 1.3 times while ensuring that displaced workers, particularly women, transition into sustainable community-led enterprises. By equipping them with new skills, integrating them into formal markets, and securing policy and corporate partnerships, it is not just reviving livelihoods in the region but also creating a blueprint for economic resilience that can be replicated nationwide.

Beyond single-commodity economies

The biggest challenge in many rural economies is overdependence on a single industry. When that industry faces a downturn, the impact is devastating. Key to long-term economic security is diversification and that is exactly what this initiative has demonstrated. Instead of relying solely on tea, workers in Darjeeling have been trained in alternative agriculture, food processing, handicrafts and small-scale enterprises.

High-value crops like specialty mushrooms and supari are now being cultivated with strong market demand. Poultry farming and fruit processing are also generating stable incomes. Meanwhile, traditional skills like weaving, soap-making and embroidery have been revived, integrating women-led businesses into digital and formal marketplaces.

This shift from monoculture dependency to multi-sector engagement is not just about job creation, but also about building economic ecosystems that are resilient, adaptable and market-driven. India's rural development strategy must go beyond welfare support and focus on enabling communities to build their own economic engines.

Bridging the gap between government and markets

For rural industries to thrive, access to markets and finance is just as crucial as skills. One of the most significant takeaways from this initiative is its success in linking community enterprises with institutional buyers, digital platforms, and financial credit networks. By connecting small producers to government procurement schemes and e-commerce platforms, the project has ensured that their products find consistent demand.

At the same time, access to microfinance and cooperative banking has enabled women entrepreneurs to expand their businesses, reducing dependence on exploitative informal lending.

This approach echoes success of the self-help group (SHG) movement, which has mobilised over 100 million women into the formal economy. The same model can be expanded across sectors. Potential is immense, but it requires structured interventions that bridge the gap between skill-building, financial access and market linkages.

A scalable model for policymakers

The real power of grassroots interventions lies in their ability to feed into larger policy frameworks. The supplemental income project in Darjeeling has already begun working with state livelihood missions, Nabard and industry bodies to institutionalise its approach. This demonstrates a highly scalable model for policymakers. NGOs and philanthropic organisations can serve as incubators for new economic solutions that GoI can then integrate into national programmes.

If properly scaled such interventions can help address broader economic challenges whether it’s the rural-urban migration crisis, stagnation in traditional industries or the need for India to build globally competitive rural enterprises.

Rather than waiting for large-scale policy shifts, solutions can be piloted at the grassroots, refined through partnerships, and then adopted into national planning. This is how India can ensure that no region, regardless of its geography or economic history, is left behind.

The road ahead

While the Darjeeling Welfare Society has demonstrated a replicable model, the next phase involves scaling these initiatives through government adoption. The Darjeeling Welfare Society is actively working with state agencies to hand over program operations to West Bengal State Rural Livelihoods Mission (WBSRLM) for long-term skill development and enterprise financing, Department of Agriculture & Horticulture for sustainable agribusiness expansion and the Tea Board of India for integrating high-value specialty tea blends into the market.

For India's rural economy to truly thrive, development must be seen not as charity but as enterprise-building. The government of India’s role is critical. But so is the role of NGOs, private enterprises and local leadership in designing interventions that work on the ground. The Supplemental Income initiative is one such success story but it is just the beginning. Across India, similar models must be encouraged, funded, and scaled.

The answer to inclusive development lies in enabling local solutions to grow into national strategies. This begins with recognizing that some of the best ideas for India’s future are already being tested not in conference rooms, but in the fields, workshops, and homes of rural communities across the country.

(Harsh Vardhan Shringla is former Foreign Secretary of India and the founder President of the Darjeeling Welfare Society).