Rural ventures

A slew of elementary schemes aim to alleviate poverty

Charming no more

The saperas (snake-charmers) of Delhi loive in a unique colony called Mollarbandhgaon. This community, located next to the Badarpur thermal power …

Rivers Shankhini and Dankini in Chhattisgarh run dirty

Ghana's gold enriches MNCs, not its own people

Heads without tails

Rural employment guarantee scheme does not work as envisaged

Olive Ridley preservation hits fishermen in Orissa

Shrimp does not pay

Jobs Jobs Jobs

The government is obsessed with economic growth. Employment is bound to follow, it claims. That's a delusion. The swelling numbers of unemployed …

Agents of change

Gramdoots, or village volunteers, mobilise people to get government machinery moving

The swing

More women than men are voting in India. Majority of them are from rural areas

Twice Unlucky

In 1962, it was the Indo-Chinese war. Now it is the creation of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. Once again, the Bhotiyas, who inhabit the …

Barring the muck

The Tihar jail exemplifies how efficient waste management not only makes our surroundings clean, but also endows us with economic benefits. What …

Tragopan country

A million opportunities lost

The ruling alliance’s flagship rural employment programme took unprecedented strides in creating water conservation structures across the …

Victim of its success

MGNREGA blamed for causing labour shortage; cut in budgetary support likely

DRDA faces axe

District Rural Development Agency in conflict with Constitution; committee suggests its abolition

Bull to bull's eye

Lost and found

Karnataka villages are reviving underground springs that were once their lifeline in summers

The poverty quibble

Government claims a huge drop in poverty numbers but critical indicators—health, malnutrition and wages—continue to be grim. So how …

Sweet beris of Thar

Residents dig shallow wells to tap sweet water reserves

Meltdown

Till a couple of decades ago Bangalore was a sleepy city -- running to the rhythm of old trading networks and retired people taking their evening …

Faulty policy causes Maharashtra's farmlands to go dry

The desperation of farmers

Channels of change

Two villages in Uttar Pradesh have reversed the trend of migration by digging six kilometres of channels to bring water to drought-hit farms