Let’s align rural aspirations with rest of India

It's important to meet the aspirations of young people in India's villages (Photo by Charlotte Anderson)

There is an immediate need to design and implement grassroots interventions in a way that ensures next-generation rural youth in India are able to have the same opportunities as the urban privileged

Women farmers deploy ducks to supercharge rice cultivation

Women of Keotal village in Uttar Dinajpur preparing backyard concoctions to use as organic fertilizers and pesticides (Photo by Moushumi Basu)

Women farmers in Dinajpur are reviving organic farming and using backyard concoctions to tackle farm pests. They are also using innovative methods such as integrating duck rearing with rice cultivation

Village youth in Western Ghats enrich sacred grove

The Vanrakshak Social Force team replants an uprooted tree in the sacred grove at Amba village in the Western Ghats (Photo by Nivedita Khandekar)

A bunch of passionate young men are saving big trees uprooted in the Sahyadri Mountains by transplanting them at their village’s sacred grove. And that’s just one part of their conservation work

When the rural elite hijacks welfare schemes

Women working to build a pond under the rural jobs guarantee scheme (Photo by Gaganjit Singh)

Although there are multiple factors that interfere with the fair implementation of rural welfare programs, it is important to break the stranglehold of the rural elite and often co-opted local administration

Native cattle breeds gain ground in Tamil Nadu

Umblachery, a native cattle breed reared by organic farmer Sethuraman, is ideal as a draught animal for the marshy rice fields of the Cauvery delta (Photo by Jency Samuel)

As global warming becomes increasingly evident across peninsular India, the conservation of indigenous cattle breeds that are hardy and better suited to withstand high temperatures has been gaining ground

Araku Valley takes baby steps to address maternal health

A lactating mother is being checked for blood pressure at the daycare center in Godiguda village in Araku Valley (Photo by Basudev Mahapatra)

An initiative to reach healthcare services to pregnant women and new mothers in the underdeveloped Araku Valley has seen a measure of success in tribal communities ruled by superstition and regressive practices

Why do villagers often ignore obvious yet valuable things?

It is curious why backyard vegetable gardens are not as widespread as they should be in rural India (Photo by Neil Palmer)

We need to figure out ways in which people in rural India are able to make reasoned and sustainable choices to lead their lives rather than flow with trends that are more expensive or patently unsuitable

Many farmers across India are returning to their roots

Farmers practicing zero budget natural farming at a field meeting in Belgaum district in Karnataka (Photo by Ashlesha Khadse)

Traditional wisdom combined with modern methods of agro-ecology such as zero budget natural farming is helping Indian farmers in diverse parts of the country to adapt to changing weather patterns

Litchi growers of Muzaffarpur suffer from falling production

Vishal Nath (right), director of National Research Centre on Litchi, with a colleague at an orchard (Photo by Mohd Imran Khan)

Fluctuating weather patterns have started impacting the famous litchi orchards of Muzaffarpur in Bihar, resulting in poor harvests and decreased sweetness of the fruit that is impacting the livelihoods of thousands of farmers

Musahars denied healthcare because they are considered untouchables

Nanda Musahar lost his daughter and son due to a callous state healthcare system (Photo by Tarun Kanti Bose)

The despicable practice of untouchability in Varanasi district is keeping the musahar community from accessing state healthcare facilities, and the situation is changing too slowly despite grassroots activism

Inspired local governance transforms villages in Odanthurai

R. Shanmugam, former village council president in Odanthurai, initiated many development schemes (Photo by Sharada Balasubramanian)

The Odanthurai village council in southern Tamil Nadu has shown how a Panchayati Raj institution can achieve holistic rural development with the help of wise leadership and community participation