Long neglected by metro-centric media, India's rural reaches are the target of an interesting, new outreach. Gaon Connection, which lays claim to the title, "India's first rural media platform", covers news from villages, provides information on farming, health, agriculture etc. It aims to address all the information requirements of rural India, including agribusiness and local governance issues.
This student community journalism initiative under Project Swayam, shares best practices in farming, relevant national and international news etc. It also aims to make rural market intelligence available to urban businesses to promote growth and penetration in the villages.
Gaon Connection has turned to Quintype, a data driven Software as a Service (SaaS) Platform for the new age digital media backed by the well known TV and media personality Raghav Bahl.
Says Neelesh Misra, Founder, Gaon Connection: “India lives in its villages. Gaon Connection endeavours to empower rural citizens by making them better informed and give a voice to their concerns. We hope to bring relevant information to the rural audience and help them participate actively in local governance. Partnering with Quintype allows us to focus on the core idea of the initiative, by passing on the technology heavy lifting to the experts.”
"Further, Quintype's support for Facebook Instant Articles, Google’s AMP (Accelerated Web Pages), Progressive Web Apps will help Gaon Connection improve customer experience, especially in rural India—which is often starved of quality internet access” he adds.
The journal in print and web editions is currently published in Hindi, with plans to add other languages including English in the near future.
