With sales dwindling to a low during the lockdown, artisans who undertake skilled embroidery, have been forced to shutter workshops and switch to other means of livelihood
Blog
Community restores private forests for sustainable future
Private forest owners have been restoring degraded lands, improving green cover and livelihood opportunities. The initiative helps in biodiversity conservation and maintenance of wildlife corridor as well
In Kashmir, no migrants to reap rice harvest
Inexpensive migrant laborers work the paddy fields in Central Kashmir. As they have left due to the lockdown, farmers and their families are stepping in to harvest the crop
Mentoring helps tribal youth choose new careers
Career counseling and training help tribal youth develop skills and choose new vocations, resulting in social upliftment, women’s empowerment and changes in societal norms
Medicinal herb ushers prosperity for Sagar Island farmers
Given the demand for brahmi in national and international pharma and nutraceutical markets, farmers in Sagar Island are switching from paddy to organic brahmi cultivation and getting good financial returns
Patriarchy, sustainability and shame
In the present rural development model, a gender lens is lacking in the development designs, leaving women continue their demarcated role, with no progress or empowerment in sight
Farming proves therapeutic to the intellectually challenged
Varied activities in the residential farm helps those with intellectual disabilities calm down and learn many social and life skills, besides offering a livelihood
Teachers turn rural house fronts into classrooms
Teachers of a government school in a Jharkhand village have turned exterior walls of mud houses into blackboards and raised platforms into seats, to ensure students continue their education
A farm-cum-training hub shows the way to sustainable agriculture
Switching from conventional farming, a farmer who discovered the benefits of organic and biodynamic farming, has converted his farm into a workshop to train people in sustainable cultivation
Transgenders fight blind beliefs about motherhood and childcare
Creating awareness through street plays and one-to-one counseling, trained transgender women leverage cultural practices to educate tribal women with poor health indicators, the importance of seeking health care
Women herders lose authority as pastoralism declines
Changes in farming practices and climate crisis affecting nomadic pastoralism, traditional herders opt for settled living. As they migrate for other jobs, women bear the burden of added responsibilities
Returned migrants take to smuggling for want of livelihood
In villages of West Bengal close to the Indo – Bangladesh border, migrants back home during the lockdown have been lured into smuggling for financial sustenance
Villagers save in a deity’s name for rainy day
Village God’s Funds, a traditional practice of pooling money and lending to shareholders with just a social collateral, help villagers save and borrow money for emergencies
Women grassroots health workers take to cycling for better reach
Accredited social health activists, who were dependent on the men in their family to commute or walked many miles every day, have become punctual and efficient after learning to cycle
Elephants establish new habitat in Andhra Pradesh
Farmers suffer crop damages as elephants re-colonize the state after centuries. While Wildlife Week celebrations are on, experts advocate long-term planning to minimize conflicts
Mandatory Aadhar seeding impedes access to welfare schemes
Linking of Aadhar with ration cards and bank accounts, mandated to weed out fake beneficiaries of government entitlements, has left many without much-needed benefits during the lockdown
Online classes spell end of education for rural girls
With boys getting preference to use the single multimedia phone at home, girls from poor rural households have discontinued studies, resigning themselves to an early marriage
Lockdown threw new hardships along nomadic herders’ paths
Their migration towards summer pastures coinciding with the first lockdown, and with severe restrictions on movement, pastoralists lacked access to pastures, water and fodder, besides facing discrimination
Treatment and awareness help women overcome anemia
Extensive testing, treating the affected, and awareness about food habits to change malnutrition status have brought down the prevalence of anemia and improved the health of women
How to ensure better well-being of India’s elderly
On this International Elders’ Day, success of an intervention offering social bonding, and health cards providing the elderly easy access to health care, point the way for effective elder care