Women contribute grains to support vulnerable families during lockdown

Women collected food grains to distribute to vulnerable families that were facing hardships during lockdown (Photo by Sukhveer Parmar)

With no labor work during lockdown, many women in remote villages lacked essentials to feed their family. Fellow women helped them by building a food bank with contributions

Resourceful producer companies address farmers’ lockdown challenges

The farmer producer companies sold vegetables collected from their member farmers’ fields from a van, ensuring physical distancing (Photo courtesy Vrutti)

As members struggled to buy farm inputs and sell produce, their FPCs, with special permission, arranged for inputs and sold their produce directly to consumers

India Post delivers litchis in Bihar during lockdown

Collaborating with India Post helped Bihar’s farmers take litchis directly to consumers during the lockdown (Photo by Jay Prakash Ray)

Postal department and horticulture directorate join hands to deliver litchi directly at consumers’ doorstep, helping farmers sell the fruits and get better price during lockdown

Making sal leaf plates lifts women out of poverty

Many women, like Chaitali Sardar, have been able to earn better and consistently by making sal leaf plates (Photo by Gurvinder Singh)

With increased awareness about ecofriendly products, women in West Bengal make plates and bowls made of sal leaves, earning an increased and sustained income

MGNREGS curbs distress migration, provides employment during lockdown

Farm ponds, like the one in Dodrapahad village, created under MGNREGS, has stemmed migration and helped villagers grow fish for nutrition and income (Photo by Pankaj Saroj)

With agriculture turning unsustainable, villagers migrated to nearby towns for work. Community planning leading to sanctioned MGNREGS works has ensured local livelihood and has stemmed migration

Village Organizations pave way for women’s empowerment

Attending meetings and trainings as members of SHGs, as seen here in Daharlangi, has empowered rural women (Photo by Rashmi Komal)

Women who came together for better livelihood, have become socially empowered that they use their collective power to resolve community issues and ensure gender justice

With no increase in tiger count, tribes continue to be relocated

Khejuri village after the relocation of tribal residents in January (Photo by Basudev Mahapatra)

With discontentment among relocated tribes leading to conflict between tiger conservation and tribes’ habitat rights in Similipal, administrators hope to change mindset with education and employment

Will the post-pandemic government be more responsible and responsive?

It would be a TINARG moment in the post-pandemic scenario if government continues to work with the same efficiency (Photo courtesy: SARC Karnataka)

COVID-19 crisis showed how government can work with zeal and efficiency. It will be a welcome outcome of the pandemic If the momentum continues in the new normal

Identifying farmers’ needs helps producer company find footing

Frequent discussions on sustainable agricultural practices helped the FPC identify farmers’ needs and steer towards its bio-inputs trade (Photo courtesy Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell)

When members’ ownership, exchange of ideas and process-driven systems take precedence over turnover and profitability, farmer producer companies will become self-reliant and succeed

Women bring economic and environmental changes with leaf plates

Women like Rijumoni Rabha (right) and Rita Rabha, seen here displaying their packaged product at an event at Chhaygaon, earn a living by making tableware from areca leaves (Photo by Abdul Gani)

By making biodegradable tableware from areca leaves that used to be burnt, rural women in Assam help minimize air and plastic pollution, while increasing their household income

Lacking access to bamboo, Basor artisans struggle for livelihood

Restrictions on access to bamboo is making it difficult for many Basors like Tilakram Basod to practice their traditional livelihood (Photo by Gyanesh Nanore)

Coordinated efforts are needed to make raw material available for the Basor community, to help sustain their traditional bamboo weaving skills and forest-based livelihood

Dongria Kondhs struggle to sell forest produce during lockdown

Because of the lockdown Krushna Kadraka has not been able to sell the forest produce he had collected (Photo by Susant Kumar Dalai)

As the peak harvest season of minor forest produce coincides with the lockdown period, the tribes of Niyamgiri Hills struggle to sustain their forest-based livelihood

Scientist ropes in coastal communities for marine conservation

Marine scientist Vedharajan Balaji involves local communities in conservation of marine ecosystems (Photo courtesy OMCAR Foundation)

Creating awareness about mangrove and seagrass ecosystems among coastal communities, and facilitating additional income for them, a marine scientist involves them in conservation

Decentralized administration will prevent post-lockdown rural crisis

Administrators need to look into the social and behavioral aspects of returnee migrants, in addition to the health and economic aspects (Photo by Anoop Sathyan)

Social and behavioral aspects, besides economic and medical dimensions of the migrants need to be considered, to avoid cracks on existing rural fault lines

Odisha government needs to intervene to mitigate migrant distress

Youth, just as these workers in Kerala waiting to return to Odisha before the lockdown, are not likely to migrate if assured of a local livelihood (Photo by Jobin Chacko)

For Odisha that is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, government needs to develop multiple strategies to ensure economic resilience of migrant households against unforeseen shocks

Will uru tourism revive prospects of Kerala’s wooden dhows

Large handcrafted wooden urus that plied cargo centuries ago, see a small revival, as they find new use as luxury vessels (Photo courtesy Heritage Study Center)

Handcrafting of wooden dhows is on a decline, as the ancient cargo vessels have become redundant. Government plans to include dhows in tourism to revive the craft

Stranded Chakmas in Tiruppur fear bleak prospects

Lockdown has left Chakma migrants from the northeast, especially young women, working in Tamil Nadu’s knitwear industry, in desperation (Photo courtesy Usma Chakma)

With knitwear industry grinding to a halt, Chakma tribes who had migrated to Tamil Nadu from northeastern states to avoid poverty, find themselves in the same challenging situation

Cyclone Amphan leaves trail of destruction in Sundarbans

Abu Kalam Molla standing in his cyclone-hit farm of sapota trees, his only source of income (Photo by Gurvinder Singh)

Already in distress due to lockdown, horticulture farmers of Sundarbans suffer saltwater intrusion and loss of trees to Cyclone Amphan, while tiger widows lose livelihoods and homes

Adolescent girls progress towards complete empowerment

Adolescent girls, when brought together into groups, could discuss about issues and also to learn skills towards financial independence (Photo courtesy Vikas Samvad Samiti)

Repressive norms pushed adolescent girls to poor health and early marriage. Bringing them together into groups has helped them improve their health, stop child marriage and learn vocational skills

Women use mobile phones to maintain land records

Dinomoni Burman and Swarnobala Roy have successfully ensured they got the documentation for the land ownership done with the help of mobile phone (Photo by Gurvinder Singh)

Over half a million women, trained to access and maintain their land records through mobile phones, have learned to complete documentation, so that they are registered as owners