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.
Governance
After defeating Posco, farmers turn to reclaim betel leaf economy
The formal closure of Posco’s steel plant project in Odisha is seen as a victory of agrarian economy over unwanted industrialization and the betel leaf farmers of Jagatsinghpur are rejoicing, although those who lost their land face new challenges
Living with the clockwork floods of Barak River
The state seems to be indifferent to the plight of the large number of people settled in the Barak Valley in southern Assam, and they are left to fend for themselves when the river routinely floods its banks every monsoon
Digitizing the public distribution system comes a cropper in Nuh
An attempt to digitize transactions under the government’s targeted public distribution system in Haryana’s Nuh district was aborted primarily due to a failure of technical infrastructure and connectivity issues
Fifty years of peace-building efforts in Nagaland
Natwarbhai Thakkar and the Nagaland Gandhi Ashram established by him in Chuchuyimlang village of Mokokchung district have worked unceasingly to integrate Naga society with the national mainstream
Growing a forest transforms Jharkhand village
The residents of Hesatu village have successfully raised a thriving forest over 365 acres of wasteland without any intervention from the state or civil society organizations that now supports livelihoods in many ways
Bodoland families smart under ravages of climate and conflict
A combination of ethnic conflict and climate change has pushed thousands of distressed families in western Assam towards a precarious existence
Abandoned Niyamgiri villages tell sad tale of wholesale migration
Five abandoned villages in the Niyamgiri hills that have now been reclaimed by the forest indicate a complete failure of governance and lack of the state’s reach and action among the Dongria Kondh indigenous people
Budget has prepared ground for states to usher in transformation
Finance Minster Arun Jaitley has paved way for making significant transformation of rural areas a reachable dream. It is now up to the states to get their acts together and not fritter away the substantial allocations for agriculture and rural development
Godda women rise up to leave imprint on local politics
The victory of Poonam Devi of Tarkhutta village in Jharkhand in local government body elections is a story of how collective resolve of village women successfully challenged patriarchal structures and corrupt governance practices