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Farm entrepreneurs build path to prosperity in rural Jharkhand

Many farmers in Jharkhand have started taking progressive steps as rural entrepreneurs, offering a host of services to help local smallholders move beyond subsistence agriculture and towards increased incomes

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Rural women’s collectives are all about empowerment

Self-help groups in villages bring financial and social empowerment to women, changing entrenched perceptions on their competence in managing their affairs

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Technology-enabled sale streamlines fertilizer supply chain

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Linking technology and Aadhaar unique identity numbers, the direct benefit transfer of fertilizer subsidy in Andhra Pradesh has helped in curbing malpractices and has benefited farmers by preventing leakages

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Technology helps Assam’s rural children learn better

School children in rural Assam, who lack exposure that their urban counterparts take for granted, have started using technology to their benefit, understanding their lessons better and learning new concepts

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Flayers and leather workers are victims of thick-skinned polity

Leather workers and people who deal with cattle carcasses remain an oppressed minority in villages across India, languishing at the bottom rung of rural society and ignored by governments at all levels

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Fetching water adds to the drudgery of J&K women

Lacking piped water supply, young girls and women in rural areas of Jammu & Kashmir spend hours walking long distances to get water far from their homes and waiting for their turn at the source

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Women-centric interventions needed for flood-ravaged Sundarbans islands

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After men migrate for work, women of Mousuni Island in the Sundarbans in West Bengal have to struggle for survival, losing land to floods and erosion, and livelihoods to salinity ingress

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Community radios in Odisha help improve gender parity

Broadcasting programs on gender inequality and against stigmas suffered by women in Odisha, community radio stations have effected a positive change in rural communities where girls are still the ignored population

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Farmers grow coconuts in deserts to improve livelihoods

Many farmers in India, the world’s top coconut producing country, have successfully introduced coconut farming in arid regions to meet growing demand and to boost earnings

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Today’s Meerabai quenches thirst in Rajasthan villages

Stepping into an all-male preserve, mechanic Meerabai Meena of Padoona village in Udaipur district traverses hilly terrain every day, repairing hand pumps to ensure safe drinking water for residents in five villages

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Hiccups of clean growth or wages of stupid policy?

Should we opt for an economy that thrives on facelessness and tax evasion just because it supports livelihoods of a class of the poor, or should we opt for a more formal and compliant economy, knowing that there will be hiccups?

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Women in Pakur use education to achieve development goals

With a strong belief that education would lead the community to achieve sustainable development goals, a night school in Ilami panchayat in Jharkhand educates and empowers women

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Jharkhand kitchen gardens add nutrition to food basket

Kitchen gardens tended by women in Gumla district boost rural diets by providing a rich variety of local cereals, pulses and vegetables, cut expenditure on purchases while improving their nutritional status

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Chosen to be a model village, yet to become one

With proactive villagers and panchayat leaders, Ansarwada in Maharashtra, chosen to be a model village under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, has made satisfactory progress, but has to clear stumbling blocks to become a full-fledged model village

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In Gandhi’s Gujarat, potters keep shine on Hindu-Muslim amity

Despite insufficient income, lean periods during monsoons and unexpected hardship such as the floods this year, the Sumra Muslim potters return every year to Sarkhej Roza, where the pots they make are bought by Hindu wholesale traders, evoking secular unity

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Women of Lalganj mobilize community to bring doctors to their doorsteps

Increased healthcare expenses and lack of access to hospitals prompt a women’s collective in eastern Uttar Pradesh to run a biweekly village clinic on family subscriptions

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How can we kick-start Make in Rural India?

A significant portion of the government’s flagship Make in India initiative can be realized in the country’s rural areas through enterprises that have potential to benefit and provide employment to a large number of people

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Bengal’s farmers are behind Kolkata’s stunning Durga Puja pandals

Designing and building the temporary pavilions that house the deity during West Bengal’s biggest annual festival remains the preserve of rural artisans — chiefly farmers and folk artists — despite an increasing presence of professionals from creative arts in this field

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Niyamgiri tribe revive wild harvests after Vedanta victory

Judicious use of wild uncultivated foods and revival of indigenous crops are helping the Dongria Kondh tribe of Niyamgiri to boost food security beyond their successful campaign against mining giant Vedanta

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Mutlupur farmers transform neglected wetland into integrated farm

A group of farmers have converted a shunned wetland to practice fish farming, agroforestry and horticulture, providing employment and livelihood opportunities to impoverished villagers