Odisha

Jungle Warriors: Odisha women set up jungle huts to save forests
Women in Nayagarh district’s villages start jungle kutirs that serve as a resource hub where they gather and make plans to protect jungles as also individuals’ forest rights.

Match Made in Heaven: A new life for Odisha’s sexagenarian newlyweds
In rural Odisha two sexagenarians, fighting domestic hardships and loneliness, defy convention and get married.

How millet magic is empowering women in rural Odisha
Loaded with nutritional benefits and climate resistant properties, finger millet can be a life-transforming crop – especially if mini-millet flour mills, making the processing easier.

Irrigation facilities improve farmers’ lives in Odisha
Many tribal farmers in Odisha were living below the poverty line due to lack of irrigation facilities. New bore wells and farm training are helping them earn more now, according to a Harsha Trust social worker.

How these creches in Odisha help tribal mothers work in peace
To improve the health of tribal children and to help women collect forest produce without worrying about their young children, the Odisha government starts creches for toddlers.

Why this woman in Odisha is called a traditional seed guardian
Kudeladu Jani, a tribal farmer in Odisha’s Kandhamal district who’s been conserving traditional seeds for two decades, says they’re precious because they need no chemicals, are nutritious and protect the community’s traditional agro-ecological knowledge.

Odisha women fight malnutrition with backyard gardens
Women in distressed and malnourished regions of Odisha are growing nutrition gardens to feed their families organic vegetables and legumes consistently through the year at no additional cost

Tribal women of Sundargarh make organic farming a life-changing economic activity
Tribal communities in Sundargarh district of Odisha have revived the traditional practice of growing food without the help of chemical fertilizers and made it viable economically by making pragmatic changes

Odisha village continues to keep traditional art alive
The iconic village of Raghurajpur in Puri district is home to over 300 artists who are still actively practicing traditional forms of painting and dance while keeping pace with the digital age

Small pumps are a viable solution for poor farmers
Although small pumps for irrigation doesn’t get the attention it deserves, evidence from groundwater-rich states such as Assam, Jharkhand and Odisha show that they have significant benefits for small and marginal farmers

Interventions to stop child marriages raise hopes in Odisha
The practice of underage marriage is acute in the tribal-dominated southern and southwestern parts of Odisha, but interventions on the ground are planting the seeds of change among adolescent girls and their parents

After defeating Posco, farmers turn to reclaim betel leaf economy
The formal closure of Posco’s steel plant project in Odisha is seen as a victory of agrarian economy over unwanted industrialization and the betel leaf farmers of Jagatsinghpur are rejoicing, although those who lost their land face new challenges