Activities Conducted

52 Parindey- Fellowship for creating a network of 52 social innovators

52 Parindey is a project dedicated to identifying and documenting the lives of 52 innovators who are making a conscious living for themselves and their planet through alternate careers in Indian towns

Voices of Rural India

Voices of Rural India is an effort to turn unprecedented crises into an opportunity to create alternate livelihoods by upgrading digital skills in rural India, while also preserving grassroots knowledge that is slowly disappearing.

TypeRight- Digital Rights Weekly Newsletter

The Digital Nukkad, is a weekly conversational bulletin curated through the news and discussions on social media as well as what’s happening on the ground. Through the eyes and ears of Digital Empowerment Foundation across rural India and global south, TypeRight aspires to focus on bringing the contextual relevance of digital technologies and developments to the society – both connected and unconnected.

CNX- Community Network Xchange is an annual event of digital rights & access for marginalised

Focusing on bringing together community network practitioners and enthusiasts of community-driven Internet connectivity to exchange ideas and serve as catalysts for the grassroots connectivity movement

Digital Swaraj Fellowship- A digital rights fellowship

Is a year experiential leadership journey to bring about a digital transformation at the grassroots. It is an opportunity for India’s youth to contribute to society as a digital change leader. The fellows will have hands-on exposure to the rural digital landscape and work on innovative solutions to bring digital access to the underserved, unconnected and marginalised communities.

Monthly Articles

FII will publish 12 articles on exploring how gender-based violence, hate speech and disinformation are used online to suppress women’s freedom of expression.

Research

CSDD will develop a research study on “violation of human rights due to digital imposition”

Prevalent social and cultural challenges

Community Design Agency will identify 40 young activists from urban slums and develop modern art form deliverables in the form of reels and short films on prevalent social and cultural challenges

Digital Youth Writers Fellowship

Youth Ki Awaaz as a fellow member is running a digital youth writers fellowship and will publish 100 essays on topics based around digital inclusion and data rights. Further, they will use their online platform to spread awareness through the voice of the young people on topics around Digital inclusion and Data Rights.

Bazm-e-Sukhan at Seven: Culture, Digital Futures, and the Ethics of Continuity

Bazm-e-Sukhan is nurtured under A-CODE (Art & Collective for Digital Empowerment), an initiative led by Centre for Development Policy & Practice (CDPP) in partnership with the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) that foregrounds community knowledge systems, cultural agency, and ethical digital inclusion. A-CODE situates digital transformation within lived social and cultural contexts, emphasising that technology must serve people’s practices, values, and collective aspirations rather than override them. Through A-CODE, DEF advances a model of digital empowerment that goes beyond access and skills, engaging instead with questions of consent, authorship, cultural continuity, and ethical responsibility. Platforms such as Bazm-e-Sukhan emerge from this approach, where culture is not peripheral to digital futures, but central to shaping them. Read More

Swaraj, Sustainability, and the Digital: Reflections from the Learning Societies UnConference 2025

Each year, the Learning Societies UnConference (LSUC) convenes a diverse network of individuals and communities who challenge dominant paradigms of education, development, and social organisation. Far from being a conventional event, LSUC seeks to open a space to imagine and resist the monoculture of thought in order to rethink and imagine how institutionalised schooling, consumer-driven progress, and top-down models of change at times undermine local knowledge, autonomy, and imagination. Since its inception in 2002, LSUC has grounded itself in the idea of swaraj, not merely as self-rule, but as a deeper commitment to self-responsibility, community agency, and ecological interdependence. As a long-standing advocate for these values, the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has been part of the organising cohort of LSUC to reimagine notions of development, modernity, consumption, access, and participation. In doing so, it also brings over two decades of grassroots digital knowledge and experience into a space of collaboration and co-creation. Read More

Media Information Literacy Initiatives

The Humara MIL Kit for the Multiverse of Digital Fallacies is a part of Digital Empowerment Foundation’s Media and Information Literacy (MIL) initiatives to enable people to interpret and make informed judgments as users of information and media, as well as to become skillful creators and producers of information and media messages in their own right. An understanding of MIL would also help communities that are getting online to have a better understanding of misinformation, online trolling, stereotypes, prejudices and other online threats. Read More

Festival of Digital Swaraj at Heritage House, Mysore

The Festival of Digital Swaraj, held at Heritage House in Mysore on the 23rd and 24th of September, 2023, marked a significant milestone in the journey towards Digital Swaraj—a movement dedicated to creating a digital revolution that ensures equitable access to technology and leaves no one behind. This two-day event celebrated the convergence of technology, culture, and social impact, with a range of activities and initiatives that showcased the vibrant spirit of Mysore and India’s digital transformation. Read More

The Hiroshima Atomic Bombing presents a Panel Discussion on “Hiroshima: Its Significance Today”

Join us on a profound journey to explore the historical and contemporary significance of the Hiroshima Atomic Bombing through an engaging panel discussion, complemented by short films and selected readings. This event aims to commemorate the tragic incident that occurred on August 6, 1945, and to foster a deeper understanding of its impact on humanity and the world. Read More

Acoustic Indie Live Music

We have two independent artists, Rahul Khatri and Vishnu Sharma sharing their best original work with you. The event would last for 90 minutes. Kindly be present at the venue 15 min before the start time, so that we all can settle down for the event to start. Being an acoustic event, even a slight disturbance would impact the overall experience for everyone. Read More

Harry Potter Fan Meet

Calling all witches and wizards! Your magical presence is requested at the Harry Potter Fan Meet, a gathering where fans of the enchanting world of Harry Potter come together. Join us at Heritage House on the 22nd of July at 4 PM for an unforgettable experience. Soar through the skies and make a grand entrance as you swoop down to this enchanting event.

JAAM-E-SHAHADAT: “the glass of martyrdom”

A theatrical adaptation of Saadat Hasan Manto’s story Shahid – Saaz is a sharp satirical look at the post-partition era when people were swayed by the idea of sacrifice and martyrdom even as they struggled to adapt to a new national identity. The immense loss of life and property resulted in poor migrants living at the mercy of charity. And yet few shrewd businessmen profited from this, painting their profiteering with the colors of supreme sacrifice and martyrdom. Set in 1948 the story is about the journey of one such Punjabi migrant from Kathiawad, Gujarat in India to Lahore in Pakistan. Belonging to the class of ‘Baniyas’ the man, who had a successful business of cocaine in Kathiawad, Gujarat, travels to Pakistan in search of setting up a new big business in his newly formed homeland. Working hard to build his empire and multiply his wealth, he is suddenly struck by a misplaced angst that he had neglected doing any charitable work since his arrival here. He starts searching for that one charitable act that will earn him his place in heaven. But nothing seems worthy of his benevolence as he travels through the length and breadth of the city and shares his experiences after interacting with people of all types and classes.

Free Flow Movement

A two-day introductory movement workshop will be held on July 1 and 2 by Deepanwita Roy, a thought-provoking choreographer, dancer, performer, and educator. The workshop is open to anyone interested in exploring movement and cultivating a greater awareness of their body and surroundings. Designed to be inclusive and accommodating to participants from diverse age groups and professional backgrounds, it aims to create a supportive and collaborative environment where everyone feels welcome to explore and express themselves through movement. Participants must be at least 9 years of age to take part.

The Mango Eating Party

Rasapuri, Mallika, Balaji, Sindoora, Badami. These are some of the names of the mangoes we currently get in the markets of Mysuru. Summer marks the entry of the hot scorching sun, holidays and mangoes. Mangoes and holidays are the nostalgic affairs of many. Day by day, year by year, we are witnessing the decline in that childhood interest. With growing age and responsibilities, the joy of eating mangoes has long been forgotten to be enjoyed. Mango as a fruit has always been our culture and heritage. Mango, which was once a fruit of riches in ancient times, travelled down to Kerala as Maanga. The Portuguese, fascinated by the taste of the fruit, took the fruit to the world. The same mango is called maavu in Karnataka. And to celebrate this delicious fruit, the heritage and the re-find the joy of eating mangoes in the summer with friends, Heritage House organized a mango tasting and sharing event on Sunday 14th May 2023.
The event was called ‘Mysuru maavu maja’, which means Mysuru mango fun. The event was open to the public, to all mango lovers. As a twist in the tale, there was an entry condition put in for everyone who walked in. 1-kilo mango fruit of any variety, per person. The event began with music by a local singer to add some elements of music and engagement for the day. People of various age groups, along with kids gathered in the courtyard space of the heritage house, put the mango they had got individually and enjoyed eating different varieties.
The mango party also had the presence and participation of Mr. Osama Manzar, the esteemed founder-director of Digital Empowerment Foundation, who had come with a bag of farm-grown, chemical-free mangoes, which was one of the agendas of the event; to encourage people to use chemical free organic products, and Mr. Rajen Varada, the Vice Chairperson of IHCNF. Read More

The Outsider in Art

Heritage House, the joint project of DEF and IHCNF under the Acode project, is housed an art exhibition on 15th of April 2023. This is the first such an event at the heritage house. The art exhibition had art pieces by an artist named Anirudha Jairam. He is a 27-year-old artist with autism. Having difficulty with speech and communication, his art is the means of communication and expression. The exhibition was open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, during which over 200 people visited the heritage house.

Mysore Literature Club

Mysore Literature Club had organized a book reading meet on the 19th April. The group is one of the popular literary clubs of Mysore which hosts many events related to book reading and literature. One such monthly meet happened at Heritage House. The meet had a separate reading group for Kannada readers and English reading.

Happy Feet

Mysore storytellers network had organized ‘Happy Feet’ marking the celebration of the world’s dance day. As a part of it group of dance lovers gathered, talked about dance and what it means to them. At the end of the session the group danced to the song choice of each.

Movie screening – Every day good day (Japanese)

A group of movie enthusiasts gathered around at the heritage house to watch and discuss about the movie they liked. The pick of this month was a critically acclaimed Japanese movie by the title Everyday day, good day.

Reading In Voices

Reading in Voices – is a monthly get together where the readers read and share excerpts from their favorite literature based around a theme. The themes are decided in consensus at the end of each meeting. Readers submit their reading in advance so that the order of readings can be pre planned. Music and performance contributions are welcome and sought after! Readings can be in any language of choice.
As a part of the monthly, the march edition of the reading happened at the Heritage House. The topic since it was at a heritage property was chosen as ‘heritage’. Many readers chose beautiful exerts from that topic and enjoyed the evening at the fullest. The readers also requested to provide the venue more for such events.

Digital Literacy Workshop with Community Members and Youth of Govandi

“Chal chal, saanp seedi khelte hain (come come let’s play snakes and ladders)” said Saleem (name changed), an 8-year-old to his friend. They both proceeded to the Makerspace stall of the Digital Empowerment Foundation. Pankaj, DEF’s project officer for the makerspace project, was surrounded by 15 children, all expressing their excitement over the activities he was curating for them.
The saanp seedi Saleem mentioned was the snakes and ladders game with a twist. One gets to climb up the ladder on answering certain questions correctly. “Should you make your name your password?” Saleem looked up at Pankaj and said “nahi na? (No right?)” and Pankaj smiled. Saleem proceeded up the ladder. As his friend struggled with the next one “should you share your password with your friend?” Saleem exclaimed “nahi yaar! (No man!)” and with that his friend too proceeded up the ladder. These questions ignited a sense of curiosity amongst all those watching and everyone would scream the right answer when the players would reach a question. Read More
As a part of the monthly, the march edition of the reading happened at the Heritage House. The topic since it was at a heritage property was chosen as ‘heritage’. Many readers chose beautiful exerts from that topic and enjoyed the evening at the fullest. The readers also requested to provide the venue more for such events.

Mesmerizing the audience

Various artists came together on one platform where they were able to present their skills in front of the audience in Triveni Kala. They also used puppet shows, poetry and skits to talk about their dying art and the reason the younger generation is not continuing this art form. The program started on the 25th of March and went on till the 28th of March and it was a life changing experience for many, as the concerns of the artists were understood by the audience. This was the main focus of the colourful 4-day festival, as the majority of people were not aware of the difficulties faced by the various artists in India. Read More

Importance of Digital Inclusion and Data Rights

Digital Empowerment Foundation, in collaboration with Barefoot College, organized training to introduce 52 participants on topics such as Digital Inclusion and Data Rights. The vast majority of pupils belong to the age group of 20 to 45, and are the community representatives of their districts located in Rajasthan. Before initiating the training, a baseline survey was conducted to know how much the participants knew about the topics. This surely was beneficial for both the students and the trainer, as it gave them a platform to interact with each other. Further, we engaged the pupils in a Focused Group Discussion, where we tried to know their knowledge of the training topics by engaging them in group discussions on how Digital Literacy would impact their lives and do they understand the need to protect their valuable personal details.

Webinar-on-Preservation-of-Culture-and-Heritage-through-Digital-means-Mysore

Digital Inclusion of 10 Women Artisans in Palgarh, Maharashtra

Digital Empowerment Foundation in collaboration with DigiKargha conducted a 2 days’ workshop with 10 Women Artisans in Palgarh, Maharashtra. The purpose of the workshop was to impart digital literacy so that the artisans could benefit from the reach of the digital world. In those two days, they were introduced to topics such as Data Rights, Microsoft Office, Digital Designing, and various Social Media platforms to sell their products.

Bazm-E-Sukhan

The Bazm e Sukhan (An assembly celebrating Poetry) is a weekly gathering of a diverse group united by its love for Urdu poetry and prose. The Bazm started in December 2018 and was held every Wednesday at Hyderabad’s iconic cultural sake, Lamakaan, through the year and till March 2020. When COVID 19 closed down public spaces, the Bazm moved online. Since then, the weekly session has been held every Tuesday at 10 pm IST. A group that now consists of about 150 people spread worldwide tunes every week to listen to and share their favourite Urdu poetry pieces.

DEFDialogue- Regular Dialogue on Rights based issues with people who matter

It is a platform through which experts are able to share their views on social issues and how efforts can be made towards finding a sustainable solution.Read More