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
Women in Guphu show power of collective action
Collective action has enabled many women in Khunti in Jharkhand to rise out of poverty, providing them with new opportunities and ensuring greater choice in their lives
Community initiative recharges water table in Kumbharwalan village
Collective action through a pani panchayat (water council) has enabled a remote village in Pune district of Maharashtra to provide for adequate irrigation in this rain shadow area prone to droughts
Another autumn of uncertainty for Kashmir’s saffron farmers
A most prized harvest, the falling production of saffron in the villages of Pulwama is now a serious concern for the many farmers who have been traditionally cultivating the rare flower
Social forestry provides useful lessons in participatory democracy
The road to participatory democracy cannot be paved with good intentions alone but needs resources, sustained work and self-critical reflection by villages and voluntary organizations alike
Can this crisis in the heart of India be allowed to continue?
The economic exploitation and developmental neglect of the core tribal areas of India’s eastern plateau and hills across Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have to be tackled through practical solutions unhindered by ideological blinkers
Camel herders of Kachchh fall into decline as commons shrink
The unt maladharis (camel pastoralists) of Kutchch have seen their herds dwindle as pastures are appropriated and the unique swimming camel struggles to find mangroves to graze upon
Solapur’s example holds key to chronically water-stressed Marathwada
The patchy soil and water conservation efforts of the Maharashtra government seem to have learnt nothing from the exemplary measures undertaken in Solapur district
Kuthambakkam charts a course to prosperity through community action
Kuthambakkam village in Tamil Nadu has overcome caste hostility and poverty to emerge as a national model of participatory governance that has boosted the village economy
There’s a mismatch between aspirations and reality in rural India
Opportunities to a better life have not kept pace with the rising aspirations of the rural youth that are a natural corollary of high economic growth, which raise spectres of frustration and social friction in our society