Restored wastelands would improve livestock economy

Degraded wastelands have led to a fodder shortage in underdeveloped Barwani district. Involving communities to restore the wastelands will enable them to rear more livestock, thus improving incomes

Lack of skilled professionals hamstring underdeveloped regions

The severely underdeveloped central and eastern hilly tribal belt in India is poorly served by skilled grassroots professionals such as teachers and paramedics, a problem that has no easy solutions

Chemistry Nobel Prize has a rural Odisha connection

People of Maligaon village in Odisha are for the first time using lithium ferro-phosphate batteries invented by Nobel laureate John Goodenough to store power from their solar mini-grid

Palmyrah tappers move from climbing trees to casting nets

After a drought and a ban on toddy tapping, palmyrah climbers of a coastal village have taken to the sea, practicing sustainable fishing to conserve marine life and earn a livelihood

Shyok Valley farmers lack access to market

Despite growing apricots and apples, farmers in Shyok Valley in northern Ladakh are unable to turn a profit because lack of connectivity makes it difficult to sell their produce

Archaic customs hold community back from development

With rigid traditions and customs such as not eating food cooked by other communities, the Thottinayakar community in Tamil Nadu is lagging in social, educational and economic development

Rural BPO centers in Bihar open new doors for girls

Business process outsourcing companies in rural Bihar are providing local job opportunities for educated, computer-literate girls in their village, empowering them socially and financially

Only neglected India lives in the villages

On Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, a look at rural India shows that we have fallen much behind his ideal of self-reliant village republics, in part because of changed aspirations of modern times

Rural youth turn software developers right after school

Rural youth with the right aptitude are trained and employed in a technology company in Tirunelveli. Local employment has prevented migration and improved the families’ economic status

Handcrafted Baluchari sarees see festive resurgence

The exquisitely handcrafted Baluchari sarees of Bengal have made a welcome comeback. Once forced into menial jobs, Baluchari weavers are busy again because demand is increasing

Kashmiri farmers struggle to sell bumper fruit harvest

Despite a good harvest of apples and pears, farmers in Kashmir are finding it difficult to sell their produce due to restrictions imposed by the authorities on transportation and communication facilities

Odiya tribes shed tradition to space out childbirths

Odisha’s tribal women, suffering the adverse health effects of childbirths in quick succession combined with strenuous agricultural and household work, are breaking community norms to use contraceptives

Native Amrit Mahal cattle need better conservation

There is an urgent need for better conservation of Amrit Mahal, a draughty, native breed of Karnataka that can toil and endure for long hours at a stretch, but have been dwindling in numbers

Are handlooms in rural India only capable of weaving poverty?

We need to reflect why once handlooms wove joy, culture and incomes but today weave only poverty, unable to sustain livelihoods of people in our villages, except for a few outliers

Smart water management mitigates coastal salinity

Rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge through ponds and desilting of check dams have curtailed salinity ingress in coastal Gujarat, increasing freshwater availability

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