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
India’s bureaucracy has failed its forest dwellers
The country’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups, who live mostly in dwindling forests, have not been well served by the government’s administrative machinery, but have slowly been reduced to virtual serfdom
Farmers reclaim fallow land to cultivate rice in Kerala
In a landscape dominated by cash crops, many farmers in Kerala have started growing paddy on land lying fallow for decades after being encouraged by the state government to cultivate on barren fields
Can managing electricity access empower women in rural India?
Even as India provides electricity to all villages, it is important to reflect on how electrification affects men and women in different ways, and the opportunities that decentralized energy access creates for sustainable gender-balanced development
The importance of succlure and faiccess in rural development
It is not always easy to measure the success in any rural development intervention because it often depends on the differing frames of reference of the village community and that of the grassroots worker
Dharmapuri has forgotten the many names for rain
Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall in the drought-prone dry land farms of Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu is making rain-fed agriculture non-viable but some women farmers are adapting by growing millets
Women feel the heat of climate change in rural Manipur
Women farmers in Manipur, who play a significant role in the state's agriculture, are struggling to grow crops in an increasingly hostile environment of north-east India
Digital technology remains elusive for Rajasthan villagers
Residents of Rawatpura village in Udaipur have been left behind in the digital technology revolution of the country, but they hope that their children are able to catch up with the fast-paced development
Telcos, techies and teachers: Travesty of digital inclusion in rural India
Although digital networks have penetrated into remote rural areas, their use is still limited among villagers due to a variety of reasons, the shortcoming of local teachers not the least among them
Why farmers in this Kerala village pray for peace with Pakistan
Having seen fluctuations in the export of betel leaf to Pakistan over the years, Malappuram betel farmers in northern Kerala remain hopeful of overcoming the present impasse and resuming a profitable trade