Rice intensification for increasing productivity

System of Rice Intensification is new mantra for reducing water usage and increasing productivity

Banks expand arms, but not through branches

Smart cards, biometric ATMs, mobile phones the new tools

Shock treatment

Nightmarish laws and an insensitive government keeps thousands in the dark

Global grid

Whether it is Asia or Europe, countries find a new mantra: decentralise and electrify

Micropowerful

A microhydel project a day. Communities snatch the initiative from the government to electrify rural Nepal

Panchayat Raj Half a cheer for democracy

There is a great push to make panchayats the fulcrum of rural development in India. But 16 years after the third tier of government was created, …

UTTARKASHI

Houses that hold on

She walks in oblivion

Society itself doesn't care to know about headloading

Big engagement with small power

Generating electricity to raise economic profile

Drought is in the mind

GOOD NEWS: There is more evidence to show that water harvesting can go a long way in dealing with drought and solving the water crisis, and even …

Political harvest

Report card: A scheme that can help solve the water crisis has become a tool to promote political interests of the ruling party Success level: Poor

Learning the mantra

Report card: The government realised its failures and learned from the civil society. Despite cases of corruption and some errors in planning, …

Now what?

Rolling on

Now what?

Rolling on

A natural secret

Policymakers don't need to go too far to eradicate poverty. The solution is as close as is a village well to a villager

Mandla Brimful of thirst

Average rainfall: 1,300 mm Irrigation: 2% of gross cropped area

Sarguja Losing battle

First district for tribal development Rampant deforestation Malnutrition and starvation deaths

Dungarpur A 'common' death

Once rich in forest and grazing land Now known as 20th century desert 68% population 'marginal and unemployed'

Phulbani Access to poverty

Sal forest worth: Rs 30,000 crore 85% population dependent on forest 65% people below poverty line

A hard rain’s falling

Sayantan Bera tells the story of a man and a state, paralysed inside the remote islands of Sundarbans

Hunger games – it’s the real India show

Tricks of diminishing returns

Clever calculations and the great wall of bureaucracy

Promoting integrated village planning

Self-sustaining rural communities could be India's answer to her disrupted ecosystem.