Author: Pallavi Srivastava
Reviving muga silk and more at Majuli island
This fashion designer quit her life and work in the metro cities to move to the Majuli island in Assam and help the local artisans revive and revamp their traditional silk weaving skills.
Jharkhand’s tribal cuisine gets a trendy twist
A team of young professionals is giving a contemporary touch to Jharkhand’s tribal food through an agro-tourism venture, which offers a fine dining and farm-stay experience to visitors on the outskirts of Ranchi while empowering local villagers.
‘India needs more young people in politics’
Rural youth in India may be more active voters than those in cities, but when it comes to fighting elections, the barriers are umpteen for everyone. Young India Foundation founder Sudhanshu Kaushik talks about why this needs to be fixed, and how.
Letters that sing and dance
Warnamala Pariwar, a Kalimpong-based organisation, uses local references to make education more fun for young children by integrating music, animation and games into alphabet lessons.
Emerging agenda for livelihoods promotion
With increasing digitisation, changing consumption patterns and rising concerns about environment conservation posing novel challenges, fresh perspectives are needed to promote livelihoods of the poor. A new report by Access Development Services looks at these issues.
‘My songs come from my heart’: Pushpan Pradhan
Pushpan Pradhan, who grew up seeing his parents toil in a tea plantation, makes music to bring attention to the working class. He talks about his journey in an exclusive interview with Village Square.
Melodies from Meghalaya
Mookhuri, a four-member band, brings to life the songs, sounds and traditions of the Khasi-Jaintia community from Meghalaya through their folk compositions.
A day at Pushkar camel fair
A day spent at Pushkar camel festival unfolds a tornado of sights, sounds and feelings. We made a touch-and-go visit and returned with a mind full of memories and a memory card full of photos.
Kholey Dai: It takes a village to host this festival
Folk music, local cuisine, scenic Himalayan setting. The upcoming Kholey Dai festival in a Kalimpong village has a lot of attractions for travellers, but at its heart lies the story of a community’s unity and resilience.
Learning the ABC of Toto language
Bengal’s Toto tribals, who come under the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, are striving to keep their endangered local language alive by teaching kids its new-created alphabet system.
Coming up, a fest to connect with Kalimpong culture
The upcoming Kholey Dai festival celebrates Kalimpong’s culture with folk music, workshops and eco-tourism. It’s being organised by Parengtar village residents along with Muhaan and other local enterprises, in collaboration with Village Square.
The MGNREGA worker who won an Asian Games medal
From digging pits as a daily wage labourer to taking the podium at Hangzhou, China, Asian Games medallist Ram Baboo has come a long way. But his village continues to wait for many facilities, the athlete tells us.
Finding a soul in Uttarakhand’s ghost village
Set in a village with seven inhabitants, Srishti Lakhera’s National Award-winning film Ek Tha Gaon showcases the issue of Uttarakhand’s ‘ghost’ villages. She tells us about the movie, its two women protagonists and more.
We need parallel cinema now more than ever: Muzaffar Ali
Acclaimed filmmaker, fashion designer and artist Muzaffar Ali talks to us about his close connect with rural issues, and how the cinema and fashion industries are contributing to the cause of the marginalised.
Smartphones bringing kids closer to studies in rural India
Almost 70 percent of rural parents who have given smartphones to their kids say it has boosted their child’s interest in studies, says a survey conducted by DIU, a collaboration between TRI and Sambodhi Research.
‘Bajra is most known millet across India’
About 65 percent of Indians have consumed millet at some point in their lives and in any form, reveals a recent survey report by DIU, a collaboration involving TRI and Sambodhi Research and Communications.
80% of rural parents wish to see their kids finish college
Most parents in rural India wish to see their daughters as well as sons get college education, as per a pan-India survey conducted by Transform Rural India’s Development Intelligence Unit.
Medical access remains a challenge in rural India
Even as healthcare becomes more accessible to rural Indians through government schemes such as Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY and E-Sanjeevani, several challenges still remain, shows a survey report unveiled during TRI’s ongoing India Rural Colloquy.
The not-so-sweet journey of Uttarakhand’s peaches
Peaches are the lifeline for many farmers in the Ramgarh region of Uttarakhand. However, the summer fruit is losing its charm as a crop among them due to the rising packaging, labour and transportation costs.
New print on the block
You know about Rajasthan’s Sanganeri and Bagru block prints, admire their imperfections and perhaps have a wardrobe full of them. But have you seen Jhag – the newest print in the collections of some of the reputed Indian handloom brands?