Environment
A new platform helps farmers in Jharkhand earn money from carbon projects
At a time when adverse impacts of climate change on agriculture are apparent, a new carbon finance platform promotes climate resilient agriculture in Jharkhand and helps farmers access climate finance.
Jungle Warriors: Odisha women set up jungle huts to save forests
Women in Nayagarh district’s villages start jungle kutirs that serve as a resource hub where they gather and make plans to protect jungles as also individuals’ forest rights.
Rainwater Harvesting: How a parched village catches rain to prosper
Six years ago, farmers of drought-hit Hottal migrated to the cities to earn their livelihood. But thanks to rainwater harvesting, underground aquifers are full and they’re now growing three organic crops a year.
Where waste ‘lights up’ villages
While waste disposal is a huge problem – moved from neighbourhoods to dump yards – villages in Tamil Nadu are turning their wet waste into biogas to generate electricity.
The fascinating story of a bank manager who caught snakes to save nature
If a snake is sighted in Gandhinagar, Pradip Khemchand Solanki is the go-to man – the self-trained serpent catcher who has rescued over 1,600 of the slithery beasts so far.
Vanishing vultures find friends for their survival
Five Baiga tribal youths track, count and protect the critically endangered Indian long-billed vultures at their roosting site in Aurapani village of Chhattisgarh.
Want bumper paddy harvest? Breed fish, say Bihar farmers
Digging ponds to breed fish as a livelihood brings multiple benefits to Patna farmers - fish pond water for irrigation, reduced use of chemicals and reverse migration to name a few.
A seed bombing eco-guerrilla wages war for green cover in rural Odisha
Growing up in a family of nature lovers, environmental degradation always upset journalist and docu-maker Subhransu Satpathy. Now the self-trained ecologist is on a mission to increase rural Odisha’s greenery with an ancient Japanese technique.
Cost-effective jalkunds help Manipur’s farmers tide over water woes
With climate-induced erratic rainfall affecting agriculture, the farmers of Manipur turn to jalkunds – low-cost water harvesting structures that go beyond irrigation needs and double their income.
Assam’s soil erosion worsening with climate change and floods
With intensifying monsoons and deepening soil erosion, Assam is becoming one of India’s states most vulnerable to climate change, hurting food production and livelihoods in the process.
Devastating floods the latest woes for Odisha’s farmers
Already battered by cyclones, Odisha farmland is now hit by floods with its farmers facing massive financial losses and hoping for government compensation.
Futuristic luxury in a water-scarce Himachal village
A savvy, innovative villa in Fagu, Shimla, is reimagining aesthetics and utility. In a water scarce region, it is offering practical insights into how a looming water crisis can be tackled.
Odisha villagers fight fire ant invasion
Swamped by red fire ants that stung their way through an Odisha village - causing rashes and swellings, residents are forced to fight the “enemy” with chemical sprays.
Sparking ideas for India’s next 75 years
The recent Indian Rural Colloquy brought together India's sharpest minds - from doyens of the development world to industry leaders, government secretaries and activists - all at the front of India's march to progress.
No longer walking 2km to fetch dirty water
When government water schemes do not reach two tribal villages of Rajasthan, the women of Chittorgarh take matters into their own hands and install a treatment plant and a piped water supply system.
Ambitious plans to reintroduce cheetahs to India
The world's fastest land animal is coming back to India as an ambitious plan is underway to reintroduce the cheetah back to the subcontinent. Village Square speaks with the man behind the mission.
Where the water monitor lizards have a free run
When man-animal conflict is on the rise, people in a West Bengal village co-exist with water monitor lizards. Thanks to their belief that the creatures’ pond is haunted, which besides other reasons has contributed to their conservation.
“India is the guru of tiger conservation”
India’s effort to save tigers, the national animal, has been a tremendous success in recent years. India’s current tiger population stands at 3,000. To understand how this feat was achieved and what this means for other threatened wildlife species in India, we spoke to Dr Samir Kumar Sinha, Chief Ecologist at Wildlife Trust of India.
Sustainable roofs make houses in informal settlements cooler during summer
In informal settlements where houses are built without considering atmospheric factors, and people have no means of regulating the extreme heat within, there are attempts to provide sustainable heat-proof solutions.
Floods in Assam fan out to new areas, cause more harm
While the intense rains and obstructions on river courses cause floods in Assam, the flood waters enter new territories, causing more damage than before.