Governance

What is good governance? How well can a person or a community access help or push for a needed change? How often are they heard? Village Square shines a light on the people and schemes making the biggest impact or providing the most unique solutions.

her life

‘Women’s quota in panchayat polls not mere rubber stamp’

Dolly, a two-time sarpanch of Shadipur village in Gaya, Bihar, talks about the practice of sarpanch pati in India’s panchayati raj institutions. Dolly left her comfortable corporate job in 2018 to pursue a career in grassroots politics.

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‘Feminist sensitisation is needed for everyone’

What is it like to empower marginalised women to access justice in rural India? We speak to Anshumala of Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives Trust (AALI), an organisation working on protection and advancement of women’s rights since 1998.

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How joint farming in Punjab is allowing Dalits to rewrite their destiny

Besides profits, Dalits in 28 villages of Malwa region in Punjab reap pride in jointly cultivating land that rich farmers mostly cultivated in their name earlier.

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What budget 2023-24 means for rural India

In spite of the massive global slowdown caused by COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine War, India’s economy is set to grow at a whopping 7 percent, according to the just announced Union Budget 2023-24. But what does that mean for rural India?

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Why a road is a roadblock for Bonda Tribes in Odisha

A slushy, patchy, potholed road is pushing up transportation costs, preventing tribal inhabitants of Andrahal village in Odisha's Malkangiri district from availing government loans for building pucca houses.

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Journey towards making Kollam India’s first constitution-literate district

Village Square speaks to Sudesan V of Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) to understand how Kollam achieved the incredible feat of becoming India’s first constitution-literate district educating over 14 lakh individuals and 6 lakh families.

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Last Rajasthan border village suffers separation pangs

Residents of Tanot near the India-Pakistan border have been waiting in vain since partition to meet relatives who became Pakistanis.

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How Kollam became India’s first constitution-literate district

Democracy – without understanding the constitution that protects it – is fatal to society. That’s why one initiative, Citizen 2022, is setting out to ensure more of India’s villagers are constitution literate.

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With nowhere to go, new year brings no cheer to landless Adivasis in Madhya Pradesh

Hundreds of Adivasis of Shukrawasa village in Madhya Pradesh stare at an uncertain future, risking eviction from the land they toil on but do not own.