Mobile Phones and Kerala's Fishermen.

Washington Post has a great article about how Cellphones have helped Kerala's fishermen. Another example of how technology comes to the help of the most disadvantaged. With the help of cellphones the fishermen calls the wholesale agents on the coast once he has a good catch and then takes his boat to the agent who offers him the best price.
Cell phone has shifted the balance of power from the middlemen to fishermen who can now call several agents before closing on a deal pitting the middlemen against each other for a better price.

Rajan said the dealers don't necessarily like the new balance of power, but they are paying better prices to him and thousands of other fishermen who work this lush stretch of coastline. "They are forced to give us more money because there is competition," said Rajan, who estimated that his income has at least tripled to an average of $150 a month since 2000, when cellphones began booming in India. He said he is providing for his family in ways that his fisherman father never could, including a house with electricity and a television.

"When I was a kid we never had enough money for clothes and books, so we never really went to school," said Rajan, 50. "Now everything is different."(link)