Features

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Winter farming technologies boost incomes in cold desert

With the farming season limited to just four months in Ladakh, villagers have turned to innovative, low-cost technologies to grow vegetables in winter that improves diets and boosts incomes, but smallholder farmers need post-harvest support

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Bhimashankar villagers multiply indigenous seeds

A school in Pune has got a rural community together to cultivate indigenous rice, millets and pulses, and helps them market the native varieties in order to conserve and propagate them

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Mountain farmers adapt to life beyond apples

As impacts of climate change and unwise human interventions push traditional farmers in Uttarakhand to the wall, they are adapting by embracing new crops and livelihoods

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Tamil farmers innovate to overcome fodder shortage

Faced with a shortage of cattle feed, farmers in several districts of Tamil Nadu have adopted offbeat solutions that not only bring feeding costs down but also increase the yields of milk

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Manipur villagers initiate successful economic development

Residents of Nongpok Sanjenbam, an underdeveloped Manipuri village, have come together to bring about economic and social transformation, enjoying the benefits in the process

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Stress-tolerant rice aids Uttar Pradesh farmers

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With her crop surviving nearly two weeks of submergence and recovering from an intense flood, Sohabati Devi of Maharajganj has every reason to smile and be proud of her decision to plant a stress-tolerant rice variety

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Educated Tamil youth boost growth with hi-tech farming

Returning to their roots, educated youth in Tamil Nadu have boosted agricultural production manifold by modernizing their ancestral land, and by using Israeli farming technology

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Poshan sakhis transform reproductive health in Odisha

Women trained as poshan sakhis, or nutrition friends, advice and help rural women, particularly expectant and lactating mothers, to eat nutritious food and overcome anemia and underweight deliveries

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Piped water allows rural women to bathe in private

In Odisha, where a high number of rural households lack enclosed bathing spaces, construction of bathrooms and piped water supply help women avoid bathing in the open

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Chhattisgarh tribes taste success raising honeybees

Living a marginalized life in the mining region of Dantewada, local tribes dependent on forest produce, rain-fed agriculture and wild honey have successfully taken to modern apiculture

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Traditional agricultural wisdom still relevant in Assam

Scientists are now validating the wisdom behind Dakor Boson, a bunch of rhyming verses that has offered tips to farmers in Assam and its neighbouring areas for centuries

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Hilsa fishers driven to the edge by overfishing

The hilsa fishermen of Howrah district in West Bengal are struggling against declining catch, stiff competition from mechanized trawlers and non-traditional fishermen entering the lucrative occupation

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Coastal farmers tackle salinity with innovative measures

Farmers in coastal Tamil Nadu are countering salinity caused by droughts and groundwater depletion through rainwater harvesting and by reviving traditional organic farming practices

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Marathwada farmers harvest water in streams, reap rich yields

Farmers in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra that is prone to droughts have made agriculture remunerative by harvesting rainwater in pond-like pockets in streams, leading to groundwater recharge

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Weavers of Negamam face social, economic challenges

The traditional handloom weavers of the famous Negamam cotton sarees in Tamil Nadu are dwindling in number as they battle changing social norms and economic challenges from cheaper products

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Fluorosis extracts a toll in rural West Bengal

Groundwater contaminated with fluoride is affecting the health of people in villages, especially the elderly and children, even as awareness on fluorosis is low in rural areas and the government remains apathetic

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Lambani embroidery makes a fashion statement

Modern clothing embellished with kasuthi kelsa (embroidery work) that is unique to the Lambani tribal community in Karnataka has helped local women keep the traditional craft alive and kicking

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Malabar women raise their voice against triple talaq

Women at the receiving end of triple talaq divorce pronouncements in the Malabar region of Kerala have stood up to their rights but have faced dire consequences. Their hopes are now pinned on the new law

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Education gives Paromita hope for a better future

The story of Paromita Mondal, a teenage girl living in rural Bengal, is testimony to the fact that the efforts of government and development organizations to retain girls in school have slowly started bearing results

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Debts drive breadbasket farmers to daily wage labor

With farm income failing to keep pace with their debts, a large number of small and marginal farmers in Punjab and Haryana have started supplementing household earnings through daily wage labor