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Organic farming starts paying dividends in Sikkim
Ever since Sikkim was declared fully organic in January 2016, local farmers say it is helping them increase their incomes, although connectivity for rapid transportation of farm produce continues to be a stumbling block
Digitizing the public distribution system comes a cropper in Nuh
An attempt to digitize transactions under the government’s targeted public distribution system in Haryana’s Nuh district was aborted primarily due to a failure of technical infrastructure and connectivity issues
Women continue to bear the burden of contraception
A trend analysis of the latest National Family Health Survey shows that women are compelled to be responsible for keeping family sizes small even as contraceptive prevalence rate declines in many states in India
Pockets of prosperity bloom in Vaishali due to cauliflower seed farming
A combination of modern farming techniques and savvy marketing of cauliflower seeds is providing a large number of young people in Vaishali a lucrative livelihood and has halted out-migration completely
Fifty years of peace-building efforts in Nagaland
Natwarbhai Thakkar and the Nagaland Gandhi Ashram established by him in Chuchuyimlang village of Mokokchung district have worked unceasingly to integrate Naga society with the national mainstream
Land comes in between plough and plate
Increasing fragmentation of cultivated land in most parts of India makes it difficult to build supply chains of produce from farm gates to end consumers in an efficient and viable manner
Growing a forest transforms Jharkhand village
The residents of Hesatu village have successfully raised a thriving forest over 365 acres of wasteland without any intervention from the state or civil society organizations that now supports livelihoods in many ways
Bodoland families smart under ravages of climate and conflict
A combination of ethnic conflict and climate change has pushed thousands of distressed families in western Assam towards a precarious existence
Women forced to bathe in the open in Odisha villages
A village-level analysis of availability of bathrooms in Odisha shows that not enough attention is paid to the clear and urgent need for secluded bathing spaces for women in rural areas
Majra in the Aravallis sets cleanliness standards in Rajasthan
Not content with just building toilets, the village in Neemrana block of Alwar district has started implementing a solid and liquid waste management plan that includes segregation of trash at source
A king-sized guava that keeps farmers smiling
The VNR-Bihi variety of guava, which often weighs more than half a kilo and has a long shelf life, is being adopted by farmers across the country in large numbers as it fetches handsome returns
Rural men must realize women need secluded bathing spaces
Women taking a bath in the open is a common enough sight in the countryside, which needs to change. For that to happen, it is important to change the mindset of men and their insensitivity towards the issue
Organic farming fetches higher returns for Puducherry farmers
Farmers in Sorapattu village have reduced the costs of farming inputs by curbing use of chemical fertilizers and embracing integrated pest management, which has resulted in higher incomes for them
Tablet girls of Jharkhand storm digital bastion
Trained and equipped by the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society, bookkeepers of women’s self-help groups in villages are using computer tablets to maintain loan records
Opportunity cost of personal hygiene too high for rural women
Women in India’s villages still have to pay a high cost in terms of mental and physical pain and financial loss because they are often compelled to neglect personal hygiene by bathing hurriedly in the open
Abandoned Niyamgiri villages tell sad tale of wholesale migration
Five abandoned villages in the Niyamgiri hills that have now been reclaimed by the forest indicate a complete failure of governance and lack of the state’s reach and action among the Dongria Kondh indigenous people
Budget has prepared ground for states to usher in transformation
Finance Minster Arun Jaitley has paved way for making significant transformation of rural areas a reachable dream. It is now up to the states to get their acts together and not fritter away the substantial allocations for agriculture and rural development
Bariyarpur farmers paying heavy price for Gopalganj-Bettiah bridge
Victims of ill-planned infrastructure development, villagers in this Paschim Champaran village are now forced to migrate because prime agricultural land has turned infertile. Flooding in parts of the village has increased as well, they say
Remote village in Karbi Anglong sets cleanliness benchmark
The young people of Shikdamakha in Assam didn’t wait for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to set standards in sanitation, which has today resulted in the village being one of the cleanest in the entire country
Arsenic contamination in groundwater killing villagers in Ballia
High levels of arsenic in the water supply is afflicting many villages in eastern Uttar Pradesh but the government hasn’t been able to design and implement any program to contain the menace