Health & Nutrition

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Seed guardians of Banswara revive traditional varieties

Village women in Banswara district of Rajasthan are setting an example as organic farmers by adopting and spreading awareness to revive indigenous varieties of crops that boost nutritional security

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How development excludes India’s tribal people

Failing to understand the tribal world view and imposing the dominant development paradigm on adivasi communities is affecting their identity and well-being

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Maternity homes provide safe haven to tribal women

Pregnant women from tribal villages in Kandhamal that lack roads and mobile phone connectivity have found a safe shelter in intermediary maternity homes that prepare them for institutional delivery

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Village health workers toil tirelessly despite low wages

Village health workers have emerged as the mainstay of the primary healthcare system in rural Maharashtra. Yet, they are paid tiny amounts, get no benefits and struggle with supply shortages

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Participation key to empowering Juang tribes

Treating Juang tribes of Odisha as participants in the development process rather than as recipients of development largesse will help bringing them into the national mainstream

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Monkeys damage cashew plantations, cause fever outbreak

Fear of monkeys has gripped cashew farmers and migrant workers in Goa, as the simians have turned cashew plantations into a feeding ground, destroying the crop and transmitting a virus through ticks

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Mayurbhanj villagers forced to ford river to reach schools, hospitals

Inadequate and inconvenient road connectivity due to poor planning compels many villagers in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha to risk a dangerous crossing of Burhabalang River everyday to reach the nearest town

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Temple carvers unite against scourge of silicosis

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Three out of every 10 stone-carving workers in Rajasthan, who build temples, are facing death due to silicosis. They are now unionizing to demand freedom from disease and for dignity in god’s work

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Community radio creates waves of change in Karnataka villages

Run primarily by women, the Sarathi Jhalak radio station has brought administrators, experts and villagers on the same platform, giving rural communities a voice

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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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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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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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Revive traditional wisdom for healthy life in villages

India has a rich heritage of local health traditions and reviving these diverse ethno-medical practices could ensure long and healthy lives for people in the countryside without spending huge amounts of money

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Mobile labs in rural Odisha promote science-based solutions

With a science-based approach learnt from mobile science labs through the audiovisual medium, tribes in Odisha have adapted simple measures that have helped in reducing their health problems

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Farm ponds improve lives of Singhbhum women

Constructed to ensure water security for cultivators, farm ponds have also helped rural women by reducing their daily treks to fetch water for domestic needs, and improving their personal health and hygiene

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Rural community at receiving end of temple town’s sewage

Commercial establishments catering to religious tourism in the temple town of Guruvayur have contaminated the ground and surface water of a village in Thrissur by releasing raw sewage into natural drains

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Bengal youth lead revival of heritage rice varieties

A bunch of young professionals have chosen to stay back in their villages in Uttar Dinajpur in West Bengal to revive the heritage of folk rice varieties that were once cultivated by their ancestors

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Kerala moves swiftly to treat Attapady’s tribes

The lynching of a mentally ill tribal youth has spurred Kerala to create jobs for tribes living in the progressive state, besides surveying them to identify the mentally ill, treat them and rehabilitate them