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Uttar Pradesh youth help elderly access benefits

Lack of literacy and complicated documentation were hurdles that hampered financially dependent rural elderly from accessing the government’s welfare schemes. Educated youth are helping them get the benefits

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Fetching water adds to the drudgery of J&K women

Lacking piped water supply, young girls and women in rural areas of Jammu & Kashmir spend hours walking long distances to get water far from their homes and waiting for their turn at the source

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Jharkhand kitchen gardens add nutrition to food basket

Kitchen gardens tended by women in Gumla district boost rural diets by providing a rich variety of local cereals, pulses and vegetables, cut expenditure on purchases while improving their nutritional status

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India needs more fodder to prevent cattle starvation

The estimated increase in cattle population due to growth in dairy farming and ban on cow slaughter will need increased production of fodder and restoration of common pastures to prevent livestock starvation

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Toilets as bride price scripts sanitation success in Haryana

A social marketing campaign urging parents of brides to demand toilets at marriage negotiations has led to a dramatic increase of 21% in private sanitation coverage in Haryana, particularly in rural areas

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The unsuitable boy of India’s cattle economy

The problem of male cattle in India, the world’s largest milk-producing country, remains in limbo even as farmers grapple with latest government regulations that severely restrict cattle trade and culling

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Small pumps hold promise for smallholder farmers in Jharkhand

Many small and marginal farmers in Lohardaga and Gumla are using tiny pumps to irrigate vegetable fields, an entrepreneurial model that has potential to increase incomes for smallholders since groundwater is abundant in the state

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Solar pumps bring relief to smallholder farmers in Rayagada

Using small solar-powered pumps to irrigate vegetable gardens could transform lives of tribal farmers in Rayagada district of Odisha by boosting farm incomes and stopping seasonal migration to faraway places

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Small water pumps script success story in Assam

A survey conducted in South Kamrup in Assam shows that use of small water pumps for irrigation in an area where groundwater is abundant has resulted in significant increases in earnings for smallholder and marginal farmers

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Women continue to bear the burden of contraception

A trend analysis of the latest National Family Health Survey shows that women are compelled to be responsible for keeping family sizes small even as contraceptive prevalence rate declines in many states in India

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Women forced to bathe in the open in Odisha villages

A village-level analysis of availability of bathrooms in Odisha shows that not enough attention is paid to the clear and urgent need for secluded bathing spaces for women in rural areas

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Opportunity cost of personal hygiene too high for rural women

Women in India’s villages still have to pay a high cost in terms of mental and physical pain and financial loss because they are often compelled to neglect personal hygiene by bathing hurriedly in the open

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Is rural India headed for a demographic disaster?

An army of sickly and poorly educated children growing up in villages will continue to drag down the country as adults unless the nation’s nutrition and education delivery systems are made more efficient