Only neglected India lives in the villages

The rural idyll envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi has become hard to find in most villages in India (Photo by Jency Samuel)

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

Training and local employment have enhanced the learning and economic status of rural youth like Mahesh and Kumaresan (Photo by Sharada Balasubramanian)

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

A fashion show organized by the district administration in Bishnupur has attracted new buyers, thus helping the weavers (Photo courtesy Manas Mandal)

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

Apple growers in Kashmir are worried that they will suffer losses in the ongoing harvesting season due to restrictions on transportation and communication (Photo by Athar Parvaiz)

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

Community norms that do not subscribe to using contraceptives have led to Saora and Dongria Kondh tribal women to have many children in quick succession (Photo by Basudev Mahapatra)

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

The hardy Amrit Mahal breed of Karnataka that once enjoyed royal patronage has been dwindling in numbers (Photo by Amoolya Rajappa)

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?

The craft of Kuthampully weavers in Kerala faces an uncertain future (Photo by Remya Padmadas)

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

Harvesting rainwater in ponds and recharging groundwater counter the impact of salinity, helping farmers like Dhirubhai Dhudiya improve farm productivity (Photo by Tata Trusts)

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

Better awareness improves maternal and child health

Participatory learning and action meetings have helped participants like Saraswati Bodra take care of the nutrition needs of her twin sons and that of herself before and after delivery (Photo by Gurvinder Singh)

Awareness meetings that equip women with knowledge on health and nutrition during pregnancy and after childbirth is helping to tackle malnutrition in rural Singhbhum in Jharkhand

Digital tech in curriculum enriches participatory learning

An integrated approach to technology in education helps students from marginalized sections create projects within the local context (Photo by Tata Trusts)

By enabling teachers design applications and help students create artifacts, best practices in use of technological tools can facilitate contextualized learning and its application

Cattle farmers revive traditional herbal remedies

Cattle farmers like Sakthivel find ethno-veterinary medicine more economical and effective for their livestock in controlling diseases (Photo by Catherine Gilon)

Farmers in Tamil Nadu are switching to traditional remedies for cattle because ethno-veterinary medicine made with locally available herbs are more effective in controlling diseases at minimal cost

Bhunjia women need better care after childbirth

Jeerabai Bhunjia’s mother-in-law holds her grandchild to perform a ritual. Tribal customs is one of the reasons for women returning home immediately after delivery (Photo by Rakhi Ghosh)

Women of Odisha’s forest-dwelling tribes face a greater health risk because of their preference for childbirth at home. Counseling by health workers is now slowly helping new mothers get better postnatal care

Missing foot soldiers in the war on poverty

Rural health workers are typically overburdened and have to work in trying conditions (Photo by Piyal Adhikary)

Unless the government improves the anemic delivery structure of rural health and education, the neglected and overworked frontline workers will not be able to fight underdevelopment adequately

Vasai volunteers recharge ponds to raise water table

Volunteers cleaning a bavkhal, or traditional water pond, in Bhuigaon village to recharge groundwater and raise the water table (Photo by Hiren Kumar Bose)

Volunteers in the villages of Vasai-Virar have revived traditional water ponds that were originally dug for irrigation. It has resulted in recharged aquifers and increased water availability for farming

Kerala’s cash crops face the heat of climate change

Coffee farmers like Augustine Vadakil are struggling with declining returns (Photo by Vishaka George)

Coffee and pepper farmers in Wayanad are suffering losses caused by a rise in local temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall in a district whose residents once boasted of its air-conditioned climate

Community bathrooms help women bathe in privacy

Community bathing spaces near sources of water help rural women bathe in privacy at their convenience using clean water (Photo by Vaishnavi Pawar)

For most women in Bengal’s villages, a bath is a hurried dip in ponds while fully clothed to avoid the unwelcome male gaze. Community bathrooms enable them bathe in private and maintain better hygiene

Bengal’s weavers revive muslin, spin success

The state government’s support to revive fine muslin cloth has helped many woman weavers in Nabadwip (Photo by Gurvinder Singh)

The revival of muslin, a fine cotton cloth famous for centuries, has infused financial stability into the lives of traditional spinners and weavers of West Bengal who were struggling for survival earlier

More attention needed on community mobilizers

Mobilizing rural communities is no easy task (Photo by Jan Gramin Vikas Sansthan, Ghazipur)

Rural development programs often take community mobilization for granted, and those who dedicate themselves to this difficult task are ignored or neglected. This needs to change

Cooking in iron kadhais combats anemia in Jharkhand

Women in rural Jharkhand have started using iron woks in large numbers (Photo by PHRN)

A women’s collective movement of cooking in iron kadhais that helps in reducing the incidence of anemia in rural women is gathering pace in many parts of Jharkhand