IN VIDEOS
Transgender student uses art to reach hearts
Arnavi Sharma is a final-year student at the Institute of Music and Fine Arts in Jammu University. She strives to create awareness about the LGBTQ community through her artwork and especially for those struggling to own their identities.
‘My songs come from my heart’: Pushpan Pradhan
Pushpan Pradhan, who grew up seeing his parents toil in a tea plantation, makes music to bring attention to the working class. He talks about his journey in an exclusive interview with Village Square.
Tribal school in Bengal defies odds, nurtures cultural roots
Bangada Bidu Chandan Birda Garh in the Ajodhya Hills of Purulia boasts a zero percent dropout rate thanks to its priorities of making the education residential, focusing on teaching Santhali language and traditions.
Odisha school bridges gap between disability and ability
Teachers at Nandini Devi school for deaf, mute and blind students in Dhenkanal prove that with love and dedication, every obstacle can be transformed into an opportunity.
Melodies from Meghalaya
Mookhuri, a four-member band, brings to life the songs, sounds and traditions of the Khasi-Jaintia community from Meghalaya through their folk compositions.
It takes a village to raise a child
In the rural landscape of Punjab, children from different government schools gather in a village to participate in Bal Mela or children's fair, an initiative of teachers to promote the unseen talent in rural children.
The elderly are leading climate action in Thar
In a time when heatwaves and droughts continue to threaten the future of human life as temperatures rise, GRAVIS (Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samiti)has been working with Help Age International to revive traditional water harvesting techniques in the Thar desert. The initiative focuses on getting the elderly together and taking charge of their situation.
Gujarat’s mountain girl
Mountain girl Surabhi Chavda conquered numerous peaks yet found Everest daunting. Developing snow blindness halted her summit bid, yet this setback bestowed profound life lessons on humility, shaping her resilient spirit.
Tezpur’s artistry in motion
One of Assam’s oldest handloom enterprise is a small scale family run business, employing fifteen rural women who have been weaving their magic into the traditional looms for 35 years to create unique motifs in sarees and dress materials in Tezpur.
Building homes, the natural way
This architect couple is on a journey to revive, document and promote the traditional ways of constructing natural buildings, through their Thannal Natural Homes initiative in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu.
In step with Assam’s Sattriya dance
Kashinath Krishnapriya Institute of Performing Arts (KKIPA), Tezpur, Assam promotes India's Sattriya and Odissi Dance styles. Based in Tezpur's interior regions, they try their best to maintain the balance between the local and elite traditions.
Planting palm trees to prevent lightning strike deaths
Odisha tops the list of states with the most number of deaths caused by lightning. Now an environmentalist is on a mission to revive the traditional practice of planting palm trees to counter the problem.
Creating art with pebbles
Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, 35, a self-taught artist from Ganderbal district in Jammu and Kashmir, has been passionately pursuing his passion of creating art using pebbles for the past two decades. Though he does not hold any formal education or training in arts, Ahmad has continued to follow his calling with dedication.
Kashmir’s walnut harvesters are in danger
Amidst the lack of proper protective gear and ignorance of safety techniques, the walnut growers in Kashmir urge for safer means of harvesting to avoid life-threatening accidents.
Jharkhand’s tribal musical legacy teeters on the edge
Banam, a musical instrument of the Santhal tribe and other tribal groups of Jharkhand, is on the verge of extinction due to the younger generation’s lack of interest.
Coexisting with reptiles
Situated along Tamil Nadu's East Coast Road (ECR), just a stone's throw from Mahabalipuram, the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust is India's foremost herpetology centre and perhaps the only reptilian zoo.
Finding a soul in Uttarakhand’s ghost village
Set in a village with seven inhabitants, Srishti Lakhera’s National Award-winning film Ek Tha Gaon showcases the issue of Uttarakhand’s ‘ghost’ villages. She tells us about the movie, its two women protagonists and more.
Delicacies from the heartland
On this World Food Day, we are celebrating the diversity of Indian cuisines -- from the Santhal tribe's red ant chutney in Odisha to Chhattisgarh's millets cafe that crafts burgers, pizzas and dosas, showcasing cultural uniqueness through food.
4 Badass rural women who made history
From changing sexual harrassment laws to growing trees at the age of 112 – these rural women have contributed to significant impact in India.
How Assam deals with floods every year
Annual floods in Assam bring hardship, contaminated water, disrupted education, and ruined farms. Government support falls short, leaving them vulnerable to nature's fury.