Gender
Women in Pakur use education to achieve development goals
With a strong belief that education would lead the community to achieve sustainable development goals, a night school in Ilami panchayat in Jharkhand educates and empowers women
Jharkhand kitchen gardens add nutrition to food basket
Kitchen gardens tended by women in Gumla district boost rural diets by providing a rich variety of local cereals, pulses and vegetables, cut expenditure on purchases while improving their nutritional status
Women of Lalganj mobilize community to bring doctors to their doorsteps
Increased healthcare expenses and lack of access to hospitals prompt a women’s collective in eastern Uttar Pradesh to run a biweekly village clinic on family subscriptions
Women in Gir stand up for dignity of widows
Women of self-help groups in the Gir region of Gujarat are going beyond microfinance and income-generation activities to fight against social taboos attached to widows and help them lead a better life
Maharashtra seed mother pioneers conservation of native varieties
Linking failing health to hybrid seeds, Rahibai Soma Popere of Kombhalne village in Maharashtra conserves hundreds of native varieties and encourages other farmers to grow traditional crops
Plight of migrant workers needs attention in Himachal Pradesh
Migrant workers, who contribute significantly to infrastructure development in the developed mountain state, need to be provided with better working and living conditions through friendly government policies
Women take initiative to build toilets in rural Bihar
Women self-help groups in the villages of Jehanabad have become the harbingers of social change by convincing people about the usefulness of building toilets at homes and ending open defecation
Assam flood fury leaves high houses on river islands untouched
A simple innovation of building houses on a raised and reinforced earthen platform has spared many village homes on the easily flooded islands on the Brahmaputra and its tributaries
Enterprising woman farmer charts a path to prosperity
From an impoverished homemaker to a successful farmer and trusted counselor for many women in the area, the story of Sangita Mhatre of Mande is an inspiring tale of how women in rural India can take charge of their destiny given the slightest of opportunities
Rural India needs a reformed NGO sector
The need of the hour in the non-governmental sector is for the government to keep a transparent check on non-performing NGOs while recognizing and appreciating NGOs and their teams that make a positive contribution towards rural development
Toilets as bride price scripts sanitation success in Haryana
A social marketing campaign urging parents of brides to demand toilets at marriage negotiations has led to a dramatic increase of 21% in private sanitation coverage in Haryana, particularly in rural areas
Tribal women of Sundargarh make organic farming a life-changing economic activity
Tribal communities in Sundargarh district of Odisha have revived the traditional practice of growing food without the help of chemical fertilizers and made it viable economically by making pragmatic changes
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