What is good governance? How well can a person or a community access help or push for a needed change? How often are they heard? Village Square shines a light on the people and schemes making the biggest impact or providing the most unique solutions.
Governance
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Gram swaraj in a globalizing world
Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of economically self-sufficient villages is at a distinct variance with the ideas and policies of liberalization, trade and globalization. Is it possible to strike a middle path?
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Soligas in tiger reserve win battle over forest rights
After the jungles they inhabit were declared a wildlife sanctuary, the Soliga tribe in southern Karnataka has made history by winning a legal battle over their traditional rights to forestland and produce
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Bhimshankar village makes the most of nature’s trail
Residents of Yelavali village inside Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra have made a collective decision to promote responsible ecotourism that is providing them with a sustainable livelihood
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Rural community at receiving end of temple town’s sewage
Commercial establishments catering to religious tourism in the temple town of Guruvayur have contaminated the ground and surface water of a village in Thrissur by releasing raw sewage into natural drains
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Women farmers suffer due to unequal land rights
Although they are often the actual cultivators, the lack of land rights among women farmers in Odisha has resulted in chronic distress because they are unable to get government loans or compensation over crop loss
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Assam village become trailblazers in adaptive agriculture
From seed banks to rainwater harvesting, one village on the banks of the Brahmaputra River has spread innovative agriculture through the region, as farmers battle against worsening floods and droughts
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India’s traditional wisdom in coping with extreme weather
In large parts of the subcontinent where floods or droughts are annual or recurring events, people in rural areas have evolved location-specific strategies to deal with the disasters and unusual weather
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Kerala moves swiftly to treat Attapady’s tribes
The lynching of a mentally ill tribal youth has spurred Kerala to create jobs for tribes living in the progressive state, besides surveying them to identify the mentally ill, treat them and rehabilitate them
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Munda tribes of Jharkhand desire inclusive development
Once self-sufficient, the Munda farming community in Jharkhand has accepted changes in governance that promises social and economic development. But, inclusive development has eluded them