Solar lighting systems successful in Rajasthan

It is a simple device but it has shrunk the nights in Rajasthan's countryside. Over the past decade, thousands of families in the state's remote villages, unconnected with the grid, have installed solar lighting systems at their homes, which harness solar energy to generate electricity.

Tribal women in Chattisgarh beat the poverty trap with fortunes from traditional medicines

Tribal women beat the poverty trap with fortunes from traditional medicines Converting traditional medicinal knowledge into fortunes--this is what a group of women in a remote village in Chhattisgarh are doing. In the sleepy village of Donga-nala in Korba district, about 160 km from the state capital, Raipur, these women run a unit for making medicines from herbs from surrounding forests.

Coimbatore attempts to save waterbodies

In times of crisis there are two things one can do: crib and cry or do something about it. When the groundwater in the industrial city of Coimbatore plunged to 300 m at some places four years ago, its corporate houses and residents opted for the second way out: they took matters into their hands.

Punjab's spiritual farming

The Sharma household at Chaina village in Faridkot is buzzing with activity. Charanjeet Kaur is busy ensuring that she does not run out of gram flour, jaggery, green chillies, garlic and neem leaves. No she is not preparing for a lavish lunch. This is a "magic potion" for her two-hectare (ha) farm.

Rajasthan tackles drought through <i>pokhar</i>s

Prakashi Devi is happy her village pond still has some water left. "A little bit of water is good news," says the 40-year-old villager from Kaila Devi gram panchayat.

A village that took on miners

Sua Nath is usually an amiable farmer. But ask him about mining in his village, Bagjana, and he flares up. Nath is among those who have taken it upon themselves to protect this village in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district from mining. The anti-mining movement has, in fact, struck roots in many villages in the district. "We will not allow anything to be taken from our land, be it rocks or gold," asserts Sua, while recollecting an incident when

Learning to live with noise pollution

Nerve-jarring noise is an inextricable part of urban lives. Most of us seem to accept the high decibels of vehicular traffic, deafening car horns, and the bedlam wrought by loudspeakers without complaint. Rabindra Kumar Mallick is amongst the uncomplaining mass. But he has gone ahead and devised a method of "reading in disturbing atmosphere (rida)".

Tree-fellers turn forest guardians in Bangladesh

Ahad Miah has come a long way from his tree felling days. He is now one of the custodians of the Lauachhara protected forest, working shoulder to shoulder with government appointed forest guards. "Now we can sleep in peace. The police and forest gaurds are not after us," says the team leader of a forest patrol. He has turned the corner because of Nishorgo Support Project of the Bangladesh government and usaid, the international aid programme of the us government.

All the water they need

The coastal city of Kochi in Kerala might finally have some respite from acute water shortage. And the famous Maharaja's College in Kochi is leading the way. Kerala's largest rainwater harvesting project, with a capacity of 300,000 litres, was inaugurated in the college campus. Two abandoned tanks, earlier used for a gas plant by the chemistry department, will now provide the 6,000-student campus with enough water to meet all its needs.

Learning games

Elementary education is tricky business. This experience would be smoother for both the children and their teachers if there were tools that helped children experience -- physically, rather than in the abstract -- what they attempt to learn. Although educational tools have been around for ages, only the privileged have had access to them.