Asha Kiran - the Hope Project

To rebuild livelhoods impacted by COVID

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The scale of COVID-19's impact on livelihoods is larger than ever

Millions of migrants, landless households, small and marginal farmers, especially women, are in distress

The poorest will find it harder to recover.

“My husband left home after Diwali and hasn’t returned. He is saying nobody at his batta (brick kiln) got paid. What will we do for food this year? There is no work around the villages now. we need capital to do kheti (farming) in barsaat (kharif)”
- Family member of migrating household

We need to focus on rebuilding sustainable livelihoods at scale

While India needs to address large scale humanitarian and health needs, we also need to rebuild sustainable livelihoods at scale and at speed.

That is why we partner with government, private sector and non-profits.

We work with with the Rural Development Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh and the Ministry of Rural Development, GOI.

Uttar Pradesh has large scale poverty alleviation programs and enabling convergence is important to amplify their benefits for the poor. I’m happy that Asha Kiran is actively partnering with government, private sector and civil society to enable this.
Shri Manoj Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Government of Uttar Pradesh.
The/Nudge’s Asha Kiran is a forward step in bringing a ray of sunshine in the lives of 5 lakh people, living on the margins of society. It's strategic roadmap is sure to help India’s transformative journey to inclusive growth and our collective vision of freedom from poverty, in the not so distant future.
Mrs Rajashree Birla, Padma Bhushan, and Chairperson- Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe economic disruption and India’s poor and vulnerable have been disproportionately impacted. The/Nudge’s approach to mobilize support from a diverse set of stakeholders and complement the government’s efforts in rebuilding the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, especially women, is much needed.
Hari Menon, Country Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
With the Asha Kiran project, Haqdarshak has the opportunity to work with most marginalizedcommunities in UP and Delhi NCR, and link them to welfare schemes and unlock tangiblebenefits, with a very data driven and focused approach. We are leveraging our technology andschemes expertise for this implementation and look forward to scaling up our program to atleast 1 million households with Nudge
Aniket Doegar, CEO and co-founder, Haqdarshak
Asha Kiran is a very timely initiative to rebuild the livelihoods of rural households in this time ofcrisis. It is exciting to see the government and private sector being brought together to achievethis at scale. Magic Bus is very happy to be implementing this project.
Jayant Rastogi, Global CEO, Magic Bus

Testimonials

"Uttar Pradesh has large scale poverty alleviation programs and enabling convergence is important to amplify their benefits for the poor. I’m happy that Asha Kiran is actively partnering with government, private sector and civil society to enable this."

Shri Manoj Kumar Singh

Additional Chief Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

The/Nudge’s Asha Kiran is a forward step in bringing a ray of sunshine in the lives of 5 lakh people, living on the margins of society. It's strategic roadmap is sure to help India’s transformative journey to inclusive growth and our collective vision of freedom from poverty, in the not so distant future.

Mrs Rajashree Birla

Padma Bhushan, and Chairperson- Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development

"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe economic disruption and India’s poor and vulnerable have been disproportionately impacted. The/Nudge’s approach to mobilize support from a diverse set of stakeholders and complement the government’s efforts in rebuilding the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, especially women, is much needed."

Hari Menon

Country Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

"With the Asha Kiran project, Haqdarshak has the opportunity to work with most marginalizedcommunities in UP and Delhi NCR, and link them to welfare schemes and unlock tangiblebenefits, with a very data driven and focused approach. We are leveraging our technology andschemes expertise for this implementation and look forward to scaling up our program to atleast 1 million households with Nudge"

Aniket Doegar

CEO and co-founder, Haqdarshak

"Asha Kiran is a very timely initiative to rebuild the livelihoods of rural households in this time ofcrisis. It is exciting to see the government and private sector being brought together to achievethis at scale. Magic Bus is very happy to be implementing this project."

Jayant Rastogi

Global CEO, Magic Bus

Asha Kiran has started strong on this journey

We are bringing best-in-class models, Indian and global, to Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring geos.

Our role is to bring together reach, resources and innovation and help such models scale.

Asha Kiran - a giving collective - is supported by passionate and mission aligned donors.

10

initiatives

8

districts

80K+

households

8

trusted partners

And is now scaling up

With interventions targeted at both near-term recovery and long-term sustainability of livelihoods.

Access to PDS
Ensuring food security by linking households to new ration cards and aadhar seeding of existing cards
Access to MGNREGS
Increasing access to MGNREGS cards, increasing wage work, increase women's participation and increase asset creation
Nutrition gardens
Improving nutrition for households, especially women & children, by distributing nutrition garden kits and helping set up nutrition gardens
Input distribution
Increasing incomes by distributing input kits to farmers who don't have sufficient funds for agri inputs
Sustainable rural livelihoods
Increasing incomes of rural households through interventions in agriculture and livestock, specifically by increasing production and enabling market linkage

We are obsessed with strong delivery and quality.

We actively learn from, disseminate to and nudge stakeholders towards action.

India's leading organizations have joined us

Asha Kiran is a very timely intervention for the vulnerable households in this critical time. It aims to provide support in build sustainable livelihood, increase social protection and strengthen economic resilience. It is exciting that the government and the private sector is joining hands on this initiative.
Anirban Ghose - Director TRIF

Our Advisory Board

Dr Mukesh Aghi

President & CEO
USISPF

Hari Bhartia

Founder & Co-Chairman JuBliant Bhartia Group

Mrs. Rajashree Birla

ChairPerson
FiCCI - Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence

Shri Saurabh Chandra

Retd. IAS 1978 Batch
Former Secretary Petroleum

Neelam Dhawan

Board Member
Royal Philips & ICICI Bank

Renu Sud Karnad

MD
HDFC LTD

Hari Menon

Director
Bill & MelInda Gates Foundation, India

Sanjiv Mehta

Chairman & MD
Hindustan Unilever

Vikram Mehta

Chairman
Centre for Social & Economic Progress

Shivani Garg Patel

Chief Strategy Officer
Skoll Foundation

Sanjiv Puri

Chairman & MD
ITC

Krishnan Rajagopalan

President & CEO
HeIdricks & Struggles

Arun Seth

EX-Chairman
british Telecom & Alcatel Lucent

Vandana Shroff

Partner
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

Renu Karnad

MD,
HDFC LTD

Sanjiv Mehta

Chairman & MD,
HUL

Sanjiv Puri

Chairman & MD,
ITC

Hari Bhartia

Founder & Co-Chairman, JuBliant Bhartia Group
TESTIMONIALS

great minds speak great words

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James Paul

Manager, Amazon INC

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James Paul

Manager, Amazon INC

Our Donors

Our Team

Ashish Karamchandani

President, The/Nudge
FSG, Monitor Group
Stanford, UC Berkeley, IIT Bombay

John Paul

Director, CRD
RB, Frost & Sullivan
BITS Pilani, ISB

Karan Shinghal

rural interventions
Haazri
NMIMS

Udit Kasulia

rural - delivery
Rajasthan SRLM
TISS

Ashish Karamchandani

President, The/Nudge
FSG, Monitor Group
Stanford, UC Berkeley, IIT Bombay

John Paul

Director, CRD
RB, Frost & Sullivan
BITS Pilani, ISB

Karan Shinghal

rural interventions
Haazri
NMIMS

Udit Kasulia

rural - delivery
Rajasthan SRLM
TISS

Shefali Bajpai

rural interventions
Azim Premji Foundation, TFI, Deloitte
IIT Kanpur

Akash Raman

rural interventions
APPI, KHPT
BITS Pilani, Harvard

Renu Karnad

MD,
HDFC LTD

Sanjiv Mehta

Chairman & MD,
HUL

Sanjiv Puri

Chairman & MD,
ITC

Hari Bhartia

Founder & Co-Chairman, JuBliant Bhartia Group

In the News

In the News

Get in touch

Asha Kiran - the Hope Project

To rebuild livelhoods impacted by COVID

The scale of COVID-19's impact on livelihoods is larger than ever

Millions of migrants, landless households, small and marginal farmers, especially women, are in distress

The poorest will find it harder to recover.

“My husband left home after Diwali and hasn’t returned. He is saying nobody at his batta (brick kiln) got paid. What will we do for food this year? There is no work around the villages now. We need capital to do kheti (farming) in barsaat (kharif)”
- Family member of migrating household

We need to focus on rebuilding sustainable livelihoods at scale

While India needs to address large scale humanitarian and health needs, we also need to rebuild sustainable livelihoods at scale and at speed.

That is why we partner with government, private sector and non-profits.

We work with with the Rural Development Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh and the Ministry of Rural Development, GOI.

Uttar Pradesh has large scale poverty alleviation programs and enabling convergence is important to amplify their benefits for the poor. I’m happy that Asha Kiran is actively partnering with government, private sector and civil society to enable this.
Shri Manoj Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Government of Uttar Pradesh.
The/Nudge’s Asha Kiran is a forward step in bringing a ray of sunshine in the lives of 5 lakh people, living on the margins of society. It's strategic roadmap is sure to help India’s transformative journey to inclusive growth and our collective vision of freedom from poverty, in the not so distant future.
Mrs Rajashree Birla, Padma Bhushan, and Chairperson- Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe economic disruption and India’s poor and vulnerable have been disproportionately impacted. The/Nudge’s approach to mobilize support from a diverse set of stakeholders and complement the government’s efforts in rebuilding the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, especially women, is much needed.
Hari Menon, Country Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
With the Asha Kiran project, Haqdarshak has the opportunity to work with most marginalizedcommunities in UP and Delhi NCR, and link them to welfare schemes and unlock tangiblebenefits, with a very data driven and focused approach. We are leveraging our technology andschemes expertise for this implementation and look forward to scaling up our program to atleast 1 million households with Nudge
Aniket Doegar, CEO and co-founder, Haqdarshak
Asha Kiran is a very timely initiative to rebuild the livelihoods of rural households in this time ofcrisis. It is exciting to see the government and private sector being brought together to achievethis at scale. Magic Bus is very happy to be implementing this project.
Jayant Rastogi, Global CEO, Magic Bus

"Uttar Pradesh has large scale poverty alleviation programs and enabling convergence is important to amplify their benefits for the poor. I’m happy that Asha Kiran is actively partnering with government, private sector and civil society to enable this."

Shri Manoj Kumar Singh

Additional Chief Secretary, Rural Development
and Panchayati Raj, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

"The/Nudge’s Asha Kiran is a forward step in bringing a ray of sunshine in the lives of 5 lakh people, living on the margins of society. It's strategic roadmap is sure to help India’s transformative journey to inclusive growth and our collective vision of freedom from poverty, in the not so distant future."

Mrs Rajashree Birla

Padma Bhushan, and Chairperson- Aditya Birla Centre
for Community Initiatives and Rural Development

"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe economic disruption and India’s poor and vulnerable have been disproportionately impacted. The/Nudge’s approach to mobilize support from a diverse set of stakeholders and complement the government’s efforts in rebuilding the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, especially women, is much needed."

Hari Menon

Country Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

"With the Asha Kiran project, Haqdarshak has the opportunity to work with most marginalizedcommunities in UP and Delhi NCR, and link them to welfare schemes and unlock tangiblebenefits, with a very data driven and focused approach. We are leveraging our technology andschemes expertise for this implementation and look forward to scaling up our program to atleast 1 million households with Nudge"

Aniket Doegar

CEO and co-founder, Haqdarshak

"Asha Kiran is a very timely initiative to rebuild the livelihoods of rural households in this time ofcrisis. It is exciting to see the government and private sector being brought together to achievethis at scale. Magic Bus is very happy to be implementing this project."

Jayant Rastogi

Global CEO, Magic Bus

Asha Kiran has started strong on this journey

We are bringing best-in-class models, Indian and global, to Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring geos. Our role is to bring together reach, resources and innovation and help such models scale. Asha Kiran - a giving collective - is supported by passionate and mission aligned donors.

10

initiatives

8

districts

80K+

households

8

trusted partners

And is now scaling up

With interventions targeted at both near-term recovery and long-term sustainability of livelihoods.

access to PDS
ensuring food security by linking households to new ration cards and aadhar seeding of existing cards
access to MGNREGS
increasing access to MGNREGS cards, increasing wage work, increase women's participation and increase asset creation
nutrition gardens
improving nutrition for households, especially women & children, by distributing nutrition garden kits and helping set up nutrition gardens
input distribution
increasing incomes by distributing input kits to farmers who don't have sufficient funds for agri inputs
sustainable rural livelihoods
increasing incomes of rural households through interventions in agriculture and livestock, specifically by increasing production and enabling market linkage
Access to PDS
Ensuring food security by linking households to new ration cards and Aadhar seeding of existing cards
Access to MGNREGS
Increasing access to MGNREGS cards, increasing wage work, increase women's participation and increase asset creation
Nutrition gardens
Improving nutrition for households, especially women & children, by distributing nutrition garden kits and helping set up nutrition gardens
Input distribution
Increasing incomes by distributing input kits to farmers who don't have sufficient funds for agri inputs
Sustainable rural livelihoods
Increasing incomes of rural households through interventions in agriculture and livestock, specifically by increasing production and enabling market linkage

We are obsessed with strong delivery and quality.
We actively learn from, disseminate to and nudge stakeholders towards action.

Asha Kiran is a very timely intervention for the vulnerable households in this critical time. It aims to provide support in build sustainable livelihood, increase social protection and strengthen economic resilience. It is exciting that the government and the private sector is joining hands on this initiative.
Anirban Ghose - Director TRIF

Our Advisory Board

Dr Mukesh Aghi

President & CEO
USISPF

Hari Bhartia

Founder & Co-Chairman JuBliant Bhartia Group

Mrs. Rajashree Birla

ChairPerson
FiCCI - Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence

Shri Saurabh Chandra

Retd. IAS 1978 Batch
Former Secretary Petroleum

Neelam Dhawan

Board Member
Royal Philips & ICICI Bank

Renu Sud Karnad

MD
HDFC LTD

Hari Menon

Director
Bill & MelInda Gates Foundation, India

Sanjiv Mehta

Chairman & MD
Hindustan Unilever

Vikram Mehta

Chairman
Centre for Social & Economic Progress

Shivani Garg Patel

Chief Strategy Officer
Skoll Foundation

Sanjiv Puri

Chairman & MD
ITC

Krishnan Rajagopalan

President & CEO
HeIdricks & Struggles

Arun Seth

EX-Chairman
british Telecom & Alcatel Lucent

Vandana Shroff

Partner
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

Renu Karnad

MD,
HDFC LTD

Sanjiv Mehta

Chairman & MD,
HUL

Sanjiv Puri

Chairman & MD,
ITC

Hari Bhartia

Founder & Co-Chairman, JuBliant Bhartia Group

Our Team

Ashish Karamchandani

President, The/Nudge
FSG, Monitor Group
Stanford, UC Berkeley, IIT Bombay

John Paul

Director, CRD
RB, Frost & Sullivan
BITS Pilani, ISB

Karan Shinghal

rural interventions
Haazri
NMIMS

Udit Kasulia

rural - delivery
Rajasthan SRLM
TISS

Ashish Karamchandani

President, The/Nudge
FSG, Monitor Group
Stanford, UC Berkeley, IIT Bombay

John Paul

Director, CRD
RB, Frost & Sullivan
BITS Pilani, ISB

Akash Raman

rural interventions
APPI, KHPT
BITS Pilani, Harvard

Karan Shinghal

rural interventions
Haazri
NMIMS

Shefali Bajpai

rural interventions
Azim Premji Foundation, TFI, Deloitte
IIT Kanpur

Udit Kasulia

rural - delivery
Rajasthan SRLM
TISS

Renu Karnad

MD,
HDFC LTD

Sanjiv Mehta

Chairman & MD,
HUL

Sanjiv Puri

Chairman & MD,
ITC

Hari Bhartia

Founder & Co-Chairman, JuBliant Bhartia Group
NEWS

July 22, 2021

Around 95% rural households in Uttar Pradesh witness drop in income, 60% forced to take loan: Survey

Read Story →
NEWS

June 25, 2021

The/Nudge to invest Rs 200 crore to rebuild livelihoods for 5 lakh households impacted by Covid

Read Story →
NEWS

June 25, 2021

The/Nudge Announces Asha Kiran To Rebuild Rural Livelihoods For 5 Lakh Households Impacted By COVID

Read Story →
NEWS

June 26, 2021

The/Nudge announces Asha Kiran, to invest Rs 200 crore for rural livelihoods

Read Story →
NEWS

May 29, 2021

India Pandemic Worsens One of the World’s Worst Gender Gaps

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NEWS

May 19, 2021

Pandemic slices off 75 per cent of income of the ultra poor

Read Story →
NEWS

May 27, 2021

Tackling rural poverty needs more research and talent

Read Story →
NEWS

June 1, 2021

Second Covid Wave Has Wreaked Havoc On The Livelihoods Of The Rural Poor

Read Story →