Ending open defecation in India’s villages cannot be the sole responsibility of the government. The heads of rural households also need to made responsible to ensure that women have access to safe sanitation
Women farmers in Dinajpur are reviving traditional organic farming and using backyard concoctions to tackle farm pests. They are also using innovative methods such as integrating duck rearing with rice cultivation
Smokeless cook stoves in Talkharka village near India-Bhutan border have improved the lives of village women by tackling noxious indoor air pollution, reducing firewood consumption and providing livelihoods
An initiative to reach healthcare services to pregnant women and new mothers in the underdeveloped Araku Valley has seen a measure of success in tribal communities ruled by superstition and regressive practices
Despite global recognition, women painters of the Madhubani folk art form in Jitwarpur village have failed to escape the clutches of middlemen, who corner most of the profits. State initiatives could help stop the exploitation
It remains to be seen whether the digital world of today will become more hostile to women in villages than their physical reality, which is currently dominated by men who lord it over them
The absence of most men and the nature of work in the farm and forest have left women in Mandal village of Uttarakhand with no option to spend most of their time with bent over double, which severely damages their health
Healthcare infrastructure is poor in rural areas of Kashmir, and it particularly affects the women, who have to rush to Srinagar to get proper medical attention, as there is a dire shortage of gynecologists in the districts
While targeted assistance has brought financial inclusion to farm widows in parts of Telangana, only concrete interventions can eradicate chronic indebtedness and ensure sustainable livelihoods
Women in Odisha’s coastal fishing villages have turned to selling fish and value-added fishery products after eliminating middlemen and abolishing the home brewing of country liquor, the root cause of their problems
