Rural India is home of the original gig-economy worker. Enterprising villagers hop from tilling fields to tending shops, to door-to-door selling each day. Read the latest trends in micro-enterprises, rural start-ups and the shifting livelihoods of India’s villagers.
Livelihoods
‘Planting trees is not forest restoration’
To learn about India’s forests, their significance and their relationship with people, we spoke with Neha Singh, founder of Forrest India, a Pune-based organisation working on biodiversity conservation, ecosystem connectivity and climate change.
How ‘Canal Man’ channelled strength for Odisha village
Daitari Naik’s Talabaitarani village in Kendujhar district is no longer the parched land where people were forced to drink muddied water. The 3km canal he dug almost single-handedly ensures lush crops all year round.
This is where your cabbage may be coming from
Bara Garan is a remote sleepy hamlet nestled at a height of 2,350m in the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas. Located in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, Bara Garan had no road connectivity to a nearby town until a couple of decades back. Residents had to walk for a day to reach Barot, the nearest town. But things changed when a road was constructed. Now villagers who earlier grew crops only for self-sustenance are farming cabbage commercially, selling it to traders across north India.
How authentic Goan feni is made
The recipe of the favourite Goan souvenir – feni – is no longer a local secret. Find out how the alcoholic beverage, made from ripe cashew fruit, is brewed in the most traditional way.
The wheels are turning for migrant potters
Families of potters who have migrated from India’s countryside to Delhi with hopes of making it big are a disappointed lot, but there’s a ray of hope as people are rediscovering uses of earthenware
Action needed to stop tribal land alienation in Kerala
Measures need to be put into place to prevent land alienation in Kerala’s largest tribal settlement, which has been losing its land to outsiders for decades.
Strawberry sweetens deal for Maharashtra farmers
The luscious strawberry is moving beyond its comfort zone of Maharashtra’s Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar region, bringing a smile to farmers in other regions of the state as well.
Holi moly: Here’s a look at Tharu tribe’s celebrations
It takes a village to celebrate Holi for several days in a row, and the Tharu tribe of southern Uttarakhand leaves no stone unturned to do so.
Assamese monks on mission to save rare culture and language
Even before the UN declared 2022-2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, this Buddhist community of 2,000 people began an initiative to preserve the Tai Phake history, culture and identity by teaching its young to speak, read and write their native language.