editorial HBN 36 (2) 2026

There is no doubt that a welfare state can not leave common people to survive only by the play of market forces. It is well understood that those people who have very limited purchasing power or budget surplus, might not attract many market goods and services. The role of the state in meeting their basic needs is well understood in Indian mixed-economic model. There is a constant effort to improve the last mile delivery of the public services so that no one is left behind. A great deal of inclusive development has taken place in the process though there are still many stretches and pockets left impoverished. Dependence on doles in any case is not sustainable in the long term.  What can replace these doles without reducing the welfare impact, in fact enhancing it, so that Indian aspiration of being a developed nation by 2047 is fulfilled.

This is what I wish to discuss next. No matter where one goes, one can find presence of digital UPI payment system but we should acknowledge that thanks to stupendous growth in last decade of digital infrastructure, we still have only about 100 crore people having internet access. There is  a significant part of the population relying on feature phone and off line banking/credit system. But these people have several strengths: they live closer to nature, they understand biodiversity and its uses, they have a rich heritage of crafts and other skills in many places and they have, above all, aspiration to improve their life. About 10-14 crore people migrate seasonally to urban or other rural areas and get exposure to  opportunities elsewhere. These people share their experience, insights and aspirations with the rest of the people. Besides, a large number of  permanently migrated workers in construction, transportation or other sectors  also visit home and sharer their urban or rural experiences.

The point is that there is no aspirational deficit, but there is a serious entrepreneurial deficit and this is so not only in less developed regions but also in relatively  developed rural and urban regions. It can be addressed through a strategy based on what poor people are rich in:

The honey Bee Network  has argued for a long time that people who are poor economically are not poor in their mind.  We have to harness their knowledge,   skills and ability to take risks. Many people believe that with limited economic means how will poor be able to take risk stop but when one looks at their decision to migrate, grow different crops or manage livestock  or craft activities despite  the uncertain and distant, often inaccessible markets, one can see them taking a lot of risks. The bane of our rural economy is that it does not provide incentive for in situ value addition in much of the rural material or biological resources. stop most of the material most of the things sold by poor people are used as raw material for value addition elsewhere. Let me list key steps for unleashing micro-entrepreneurship with some element of innovation or in siti vaue addition, mainly by women but also by men.

Key principles:

1. Every micro enterprise must be planned with a clear pathway for macro-enterprises, there is no justification in keeping women tied to micro enterprise and men in macro enterprise.
2. There should be robust  arrangement for network entrepreneurship, that is leveraging collaborative excellence and not just competitive one.
3. The death is as important as birth, we should not put a  stigma on failure of a business, if it does not work, fast closure must be allowed and encouraged  and starting something else must be facilitated.

One should not rely on only group loans or micro-finance but move on besting on individuals and also  through micro venture finance, with failure allowed.  District innovation fund needs to be reinvented and managed by a collaborative governance.

• Grassroots innovations, whether local or  external may be deployed in as many cases as possible to improve productivity and generate an experimental and adaptive learning ethic.
• The entrepreneurs must be encouraged to acquire finance, accounting and marketing skills to keep personal and firm account separate, keep ratio of credit to cash sales in the right proportion, not cut corners  in quality control and maintain healthy attitude towards customer feedback and criticism if any.

The strategy for promoting small businesses:

1. Mapping abundant and abandoned bio-resources will ensure that while building value chain poor are not excluded; ii) identify unique nutritional properties of local biodiversity particularly agro-biodiversity to explore their potential as functional food, nutraceuticals,  and place specific identities.; iii)  in situ value addition can start from just sorting and grading various produce, besides during, processing as eatables or condiments or aroma or herbal edible and non edible colours for various uses;  despite abundant availability of tree flowers, sustainable bark extraction, leaves etc.,  in many tribal areas, herbal colour industry has not picked up in a big way; iv) quick connect with labs must be ensured to assure consumers about safety and hygiene besides biodegradable packaging where possible; v) training and capacity building, access to machinery and skill building for  their use and  maintenance; vi) creating macro brands rather than micro brands is must for consumer connect to be effective;  vii) engagement with local  college students may help in exploring market research and business planning where possible, but small self-learning  multi-language videos can be developed for building one’s  own capacity for dealing with local and distant markets and eventually global markets through g2G model  (grassroots to Global); viii) participation in fares does help but there is a huge cost in such participation when the fares are held in distant urban regions, so external support for such participation may be needed for some time; ix) it is seen that small entrepreneurs make products first and then look for markets, resulting in often losses because of unsold inventories; the art of estimating demand and matching it with supply is something that is learned by and by and some mismatch is to be expected and accommodated; x) when third parties are involved in  mediating production, packaging and marketing, it may be ensured that local knowledge and resource providers are acknowledged on the labels of the products, trust, traceability and transparency are important s that younger customers seem to appreciate; xi) every producer (individual or group) in different domains must be encouraged to showcase  the products or other small producers on their shelves and also include in their pooled catalogue to widen customer choice and grow together; and xii) imperfect beginning lie at the heart of entrepreneurship, waiting for complete clarity, no ambiguity and all variables in  control will never let enterprises to emerge. Learning by doing, experimenting, failing and restarting are necessary part of entrepreneurial journey.

It is quite possible to unleash the energy of millions of bottom up, grassroots entrepreneurs with distinctive edge,  novelty, and innovation in some part of the value chain. The experience of Honey Bee Network  is that good ethics often makes good  economics. When one starts confusing between means and ends, the distortion invariably follow. It is hoped that strong ethical orientation in mass unfolding of creative entrepreneurship will hold the movement in good stead and honest mistakes will be forgiven and grassroots innovations will be leveraged and scaled up.