Features

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Migrant children get a shot at continuing education

A scheme by the Odisha government has enabled children of migrant workers to continue their education at destination sites, preventing child labor and ensuring continuity in education

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Sheepherders conserve quality Kashmir Merino stock

Good management practices have helped sheep farmers to ensure a quality lineage of Kashmir Merino, a hybrid of the government’s crossbreeding program. It has boosted local production of wool and meat

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Bengal’s brass workers labor to sustain tradition

The brass smiths of Birbhum are eking out a living making pots, but are competing against cheaper alternatives. They persist, hoping that government support and product diversification will sustain them

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Traditional handloom weaves a comeback in Kachchh

The remarkable revival of traditional Kachchhi handloom by the vankar community could serve as a shining example of how India could tackle its severe livelihood, ecological and cultural crises

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Chia seeds earn bumper incomes for Mysuru farmers

Switching from traditional crops, farmers of Mysuru district in Karnataka have boosted agricultural income by cultivating chia seeds, which are becoming popular in India because of their nutritional value

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Bengal women find viable livelihood in turkey

Overcoming hurdles and non-starter self-employment projects, members of women self-help groups persisted tenaciously and took to rearing turkeys, setting a successful livelihood trend

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Drought-hit farmers grow crops with treated wastewater

After Karnataka government pumped Bengaluru city’s treated wastewater into Kolar’s tanks last year, farmers made use of the raised groundwater table to grow crops amidst concerns of contamination

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How poor breadwinners hit digital hurdle

Online procedures to avail of government welfare entitlements are big hurdles to unlettered villagers that sometimes lead to delays and loss, often adding to the distress of the rural poor

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Sariska’s herders fear livelihood loss with eviction

Nomadic pastoralists being evicted from Sariska Tiger Reserve to conserve tigers introduced from Ranthambore fear loss of livelihoods, and life in relocation settlements with poor amenities

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Oriya bonded labor languish after being rescued

Migrant workers from western Odisha who are rescued from bondage at destination sites continue to languish in poverty for want of rural employment and rehabilitation support

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Manas villagers benefit from alternate livelihoods

Shifting to non-forest livelihoods has helped landless families around Manas National Park to avoid human-animal conflicts, and earn more without denuding the forests

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Hudali keeps khadi cooperative flag flying

The first khadi unit to be established in southern India at Hudali in Karnataka continues as a successful rural artisanal cooperative, supplying a variety of products to industries and urban consumers

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Declining rainfall places farming at risk in Bihar

The economy of Bihar is in jeopardy as the number of no rainfall days due to climate change is showing an increasing trend in a state that depends heavily on rain-fed agriculture

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Vagad farmers stage progress marches

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Tribal farmers of the Vagad region have been marching through villages to find local solutions to farming and community problems through participation and discussion

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Social audit empowers Odisha’s rural poor

People left out of the government’s welfare programs have been included through a social audit in Odisha’s underdeveloped rural areas, boosting nutrition security among impoverished families

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Villagers face eviction near Panna forest reserve

The residents of Rampura, a small village in the buffer zone of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, have been asked to move. But, they say, with no allocation of alternative land, they have nowhere to go

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Tamil women bank on herbs to boost income

Women in rural Villupuram have quit working as farm labor and have become herbal entrepreneurs to conserve traditional knowledge, revive use of healthy herbs and boost household incomes

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Santhal girls shatter social taboo playing football

Teenaged Santhal girls in West Bengal have taken to football despite facing community antagonism. They hope that the sport would deliver them from poor socioeconomic shackles

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Village women up in arms against alcoholism

Women in rural Karnataka have banded together to demand a prohibition on liquor because they are the receiving end of alcoholism of men that leads invariably to domestic violence and financial hardship

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Odisha women fight malnutrition with backyard gardens

Women in distressed and malnourished regions of Odisha are growing nutrition gardens to feed their families organic vegetables and legumes consistently through the year at no additional cost