SEWA makes leaders from followers

The ramshackle settlement of migrant workers along the Trikampura Patiya canal in south Ahmedabad was, unsurprisingly, a dismal sight. Black, ...

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Hyperlocal reporting goes right home in Nandurbar

Surmayi Khatana, New Delhi

HOW do you get hesitant villagers in backward nooks of the country to turn up for COVID-19 vaccination? Ask Aadiwasi ...

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When springs dry up in the hills, PSI brings them back

Rakesh Agrawal , Dehradun

THE people of Bana, a village in Pithoragarh district, perched at 1,800 metres and surrounded by verdant hills, never faced ...

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Kambala gets kinder and more popular

Susheela Nair, Mangaluru

BLARING microphones, blowing horns and the beat of drums heralded the much-awaited Kambala, an annual sporting event in which buffaloes ...

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Puttur's new check dams are cheaper and more durable

Shree Padre, Kasaragod

EVERY year A.P. Sadashiva Marike, a middle-class areca nut farmer near Puttur in Karnataka, would construct a katta across a ...

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Jam, juice, flakes, chips or pulp....

Shree Padre, Ambalavayal/Wayanad

IF a small farmer or household in Wayanad has a surplus of fruits or vegetables, all they have to do ...

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Unionize MGNREGA for more impact

N.S. Bedi, Manisha K. & Ganesh Iyer, Andhra Pradesh

Our article is a response to two stories which were published in the June and July issues of Civil Society. ...

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Why MGNREGA workers are chasing their wages

Civil Society News, Gurugram

Workers who fled cities to return to their villages because of the coronavirus pandemic rely on the rural jobs scheme ...

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How Gond villages took to terrace farming

Parijat Ghosh, Dibyendu Chaudhuri and Jostine A, Madhya Pradesh

During our transect walk through Chataniha, a village in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh, Ramkali and Munni explained how their ...

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Handwash, other hygiene products from biofuel

Shree Padre, Mandya

A tiny team working in a government outfit in Mandya is producing an amazing range of inexpensive products from biofuel. ...

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With dream dam farmers show what is possible

Shree Padre, Vittal (Karnataka)

A check dam built by farmers across the Kodungai river has caught the attention of government officials and farmers living ...

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Gorakhpur digs pits to keep diseases at bay

Sandeep A. Chavan, Gorakhpur

One day Dharmendra, a field worker with Project Prayaas, a Tata Trusts initiative, spotted Babulal, a local resident, emptying waste ...

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MGNREGA in digital trap

Narinder Bedi

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is failing to deliver its promises to the rural poor due ...

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Sweet water tankas for saline Gujarat villages

Bharat Dogra, Ahmedabad

Rooftop rainwater harvesting is proving to be the most effective method of tackling saline water ingress in the coastal areas of ...

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Shravasti is improving sanitation in schools 

Bharat Dogra, Lucknow

Shravasti district is located in the eastern Terai belt of Uttar Pradesh, below the Nepal Himalayas. It has generally been ...

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Women talk out domestic abuse with a little help

Sumita Kasana & Bharati Raghuvanshi, Narayanganj

Rajni was in deep distress. Her husband and in-laws shunned her. Her father and brother had rebuked her. The villagers ...

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Pipli is trendy with its craft but losing its artisans

Rakhi Ghosh, Bhubaneshwar

Colourful chariots are the first thing that people notice during Odisha’s annual chariot procession of the gods, Jagannath, Balabhadra and ...

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Orchid village: B’lore gets its supply from remote Cotigao ?

Derek Almeida, Panjim

Umesh Tolu Gaonkar could have easily found a job as a lecturer in a college. He had offers as well ...

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‘Ada bore’ travels south from Rajasthan

Shree Padre, Kasaragod

Govind Bhai of Nimas village in Nagore district of Rajasthan has a grassroots technology that is in demand in rural ...

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Toddy tappers do a high act from tree to tree

Shree Padre, Palakkad

Hundreds of coconut climbers in Kerala are walking from tree to tree at a dizzying height of 15 to 20 ...

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Siddu jack is an ace by Karnataka farmer

Shree Padre , Bengaluru

S.S. Paramesha’s farm in Chellur has a 35-year-old jackfruit tree which yields unusual fruit. It is small, red, flaky and ...

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NREGA women learning to dig wells in Kerala like men

Shree Padre, Kasargod

Digging a well is a job that has always been done by men. The work is not for the faint ...

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A subaltern music festival in Bundelkhand

Bharat Dogra, Chitrakoot

Once again the unusual Lok Laya festival was held in Chitrakoot in Bundelkhand on 17 March. A celebration of folk ...

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Doctors track the social roots of 27 diseases

Bharat Dogra, Bilaspur

Phagni Bai lives in Littikhola, a small village at the foot of a mountain in Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh. Phagni ...

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Village women get a helpline

Swapna Majumdar, Gorakhpur/Deoria

It was a hot and humid August afternoon so Babita decided to take a short-cut to Sirsia Mishra, a neighbouring ...

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