Governance
Local livelihoods curb exploitative labor trafficking
To stop poor villagers from becoming bonded migrant labor, the Odisha government needs to strengthen latest steps to cut out middlemen and boost the rural jobs guarantee program with higher wages
Child panchayats spur village leaders to improve services
Knowing their rights to life and social protection, school students in child panchayats have compelled rural administrators to provide basic amenities necessary for the development of their villages
Farmer producer companies: let a thousand balloons float
While farmer producer companies mushroom across the country because of government’s financial incentives, problems in input delivery and sale of produce persist, making their long-term sustenance difficult
Cattle trade dwindles at Sonepur Mela
Enforcement of laws related to cattle trade has affected the famed Sonepur cattle fair, with cattle numbers decreasing steadily at the fair and sale dwindling by the year
India needs poverty fighters to boost rural incomes
Ending endemic economic poverty in the central and eastern parts of rural India needs more numbers of trained foot soldiers to deal with the complex realities on the ground
Stigmatized Lodha tribe starts new life trajectory
Education and sports have helped the Lodhas, a particularly vulnerable tribal community that was forced to lead an excluded life because they were stigmatized as thieves, to increasingly join the mainstream
Families along Brahmaputra lose land to river erosion
Having lost homesteads and farmlands to river erosion, Assam’s farmers living in makeshift camps seek government intervention, even as state administration tries to rework a rehabilitation scheme announced in 2015
Adivasis in Rajasthan demand better local governance
Villagers, especially women, are questioning panchayat institutions being used as tools to push government agenda that do not necessarily align with their needs, and want better local governance
Bengal fishermen face livelihood quandary
Bottom trawling in banned near-shore areas has been destroying marine ecosystems, affecting traditional fishermen, and forcing some to work in those very trawlers to earn a living
Can a pointed pickaxe pierce a pearl?
There are formidable challenges in delivering welfare services to scattered and disenfranchised groups of people in rural India, and the government machinery is ill-equipped to deal with it
Farmers repurpose bore wells for rainwater harvesting
With abandoned bore wells turning hazardous for children, farmers in Tamil Nadu are on a voluntary drive to convert them into rainwater harvesting structures
Gond children learn to conserve forests
With their forests degrading for a variety of reasons, Gond elders are rekindling interest about forest biodiversity among the younger generation, and are inspiring villagers to protect the forests
Can handlooms provide a viable rural livelihood?
There are reasons not to give up entirely on the rural handloom sector, and we can learn from northeast India on how artisanal weaving can still be an attractive livelihood option
Mental health patients see better days in Jharkhand
Misconceptions about mental health lead to mistreatment of afflicted tribal people in Jharkhand. Awareness initiatives, community support and treatment are now improving their lives
Lack of skilled professionals hamstring underdeveloped regions
The severely underdeveloped central and eastern hilly tribal belt in India is poorly served by skilled grassroots professionals such as teachers and paramedics, a problem that has no easy solutions
Chemistry Nobel Prize has a rural Odisha connection
People of Maligaon village in Odisha are for the first time using lithium ferro-phosphate batteries invented by Nobel laureate John Goodenough to store power from their solar mini-grid
Shyok Valley farmers lack access to market
Despite growing apricots and apples, farmers in Shyok Valley in northern Ladakh are unable to turn a profit because lack of connectivity makes it difficult to sell their produce
Archaic customs hold community back from development
With rigid traditions and customs such as not eating food cooked by other communities, the Thottinayakar community in Tamil Nadu is lagging in social, educational and economic development
Rural BPO centers in Bihar open new doors for girls
Business process outsourcing companies in rural Bihar are providing local job opportunities for educated, computer-literate girls in their village, empowering them socially and financially
Only neglected India lives in the villages
On Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, a look at rural India shows that we have fallen much behind his ideal of self-reliant village republics, in part because of changed aspirations of modern times