Gender
Tribal village in Palghar ensures water availability through summer
Residents of water-scarce village of indigenous people in Mokhada have collectively built a concrete embankment on a dry rivulet to harvest rainwater and become water-sufficient
Tie and dye add color to women’s lives in Nosariya
Learning the traditional art of coloring fabrics is enabling many women in rural Bikaner to add an additional source of household income in an area where patriarchy makes it difficult for them to step out of their villages
Facebook, WhatsApp curbing child marriages in Assam
At a time when social media is being used to spread lies and malicious rumors, a group of young people in Assam are using WhatsApp and Facebook groups to prevent child marriages in the underdeveloped district of Darrang
Custom of child marriages must be fought on multiple fronts
There is no silver bullet to defeat the scourge of underage marriages. Rather, it is important to extend the scope of current interventions among adolescents and the communities they grow up in, which then need to be backed up by suitable government policies
Empowering rural women in Assam through the Internet
Women trained in the use of the Internet are fanning across four districts of Assam to bring its benefits to rural women, which in turn is boosting their household earnings and changing everyday lives for the better
Women artisans of Thar Desert overcome adversity through embroidery
Undeterred by displacement from Pakistan during the 1971 war and resettled in the unforgiving Thar Desert, women now living in Bikaner district have used their skills of traditional embroidery to earn a living with dignity
Jaisalsar in Bikaner banishes child marriage from its homes
The villages in the desert of Rajasthan are notorious for child brides but groups of girls are now banding together to defy and upturn a long held tradition to assure a new and better future for themselves
Interventions to stop child marriages raise hopes in Odisha
The practice of underage marriage is acute in the tribal-dominated southern and southwestern parts of Odisha, but interventions on the ground are planting the seeds of change among adolescent girls and their parents
Breaking the norm of child marriage an uphill task in Uttar Pradesh
A detailed baseline study conducted in seven districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh shows that underage marriages are still widely prevalent, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and this practice holds back girls from realizing their full potential
Palghar tribal village says no to child marriages
Despite a long-held tradition of marrying off girls once they reach 15 years of age, a tribal village in the underdeveloped area of Maharashtra has stopped the ill-advised practice of child marriage for the past two years
Vadu women emerge as agents of change as health recorders
The regular recording to health-related data through computer tablets is helping in designing and implementing food, nutrition and healthcare interventions on the ground in several areas of Pune district
Women continue to bear the burden of contraception
A trend analysis of the latest National Family Health Survey shows that women are compelled to be responsible for keeping family sizes small even as contraceptive prevalence rate declines in many states in India
Women forced to bathe in the open in Odisha villages
A village-level analysis of availability of bathrooms in Odisha shows that not enough attention is paid to the clear and urgent need for secluded bathing spaces for women in rural areas
Rural men must realize women need secluded bathing spaces
Women taking a bath in the open is a common enough sight in the countryside, which needs to change. For that to happen, it is important to change the mindset of men and their insensitivity towards the issue
Tablet girls of Jharkhand storm digital bastion
Trained and equipped by the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society, bookkeepers of women’s self-help groups in villages are using computer tablets to maintain loan records
Opportunity cost of personal hygiene too high for rural women
Women in India’s villages still have to pay a high cost in terms of mental and physical pain and financial loss because they are often compelled to neglect personal hygiene by bathing hurriedly in the open
Women are still considered beasts of burden in rural India
Women carrying enormous head loads remain a common sight in large swathes of the country, indicative of our gender insensitivity and skewed priorities
Godda women rise up to leave imprint on local politics
The victory of Poonam Devi of Tarkhutta village in Jharkhand in local government body elections is a story of how collective resolve of village women successfully challenged patriarchal structures and corrupt governance practices
Campaign by tribal women groups brings down alcoholism in Attappadi
When women living around Attappadi Reserve Forest found that no development was possible due to chronic alcoholism among the tribal men, they banded together to rid the area of the menace and start a labor bank for employment
Drummer girls of Bengal step up with a new beat
Despite long neglect, the dhak might be getting a new lease of life as women have stormed a male bastion and have taken up playing Bengal’s traditional big drum