TRADITIONAL FOODS
Re-seeding the past for a better future

Tribal communities in Similipal are being encouraged to conserve seeds and water, use bio-inputs and inter-crop millets with other crops. Farmers are optimistic that this can bring them food security and better livelihoods. 

#Land #Organic #Agriculture #ODISHA
BACK TO SCHOOL
Meaningful restart of education is critical

Inequalities in education, which were already very large, have been considerably worsened by the long closure of schools. But this crisis is also an opportunity for renewal of the education system.

#Caste #Curricula #Urban Poor #Education
NUTRITION GARDENS
Local fields of health and livelihood

Odisha's Livelihood Mission promotes local gardens to help adivasis find food security. These also improve nutrition levels, and provide additional income from surplus produce.

#Child Health #Food Security #Livelihoods #Women's Health #Health #ODISHA
TRIBAL TRADITIONS
Asuri : Holding on to a vanishing language

Hundreds of indigenous languages have vanished; many more are spoken by only a few. But as the Asur adivasis of Jharkhand show, it is possible to revive and preserve a language.

#Culture #Radio #Media #Society #JHARKHAND
COVID IMPACT
Pandemic compounds Adivasis' long misery

Scheduled Tribes were marginalised even before Covid-19. Now, in Odisha's tribal districts, they face a worse reality. Livelihoods are vanishing, and health risks loom large.

#Livelihoods #Public Health #Poverty #ODISHA
SELF-GOVERNANCE
Ground-up planning in Ranchi's slums

Can people themselves plan for their basic services? A new initiative in informal settlements which have been ignored by formal planners shows the potential of a different approach.

#Cities #Water #Government #JHARKHAND
NATURAL RESOURCES
A landscape of degradation
NATURAL RESOURCES : A landscape of degradation

Poor governance of natural resources is undermining progress in curbing emissions. It is also weakening the resilience of vulnerable people who are affected by climate change.

#Environmental Regulation #Land #Environment #RAJASTHAN
RURAL LIVELIHOODS
Falling prices hit turmeric farmers hard

As Covid-19 rages through the rural areas, hundreds of thousands of tribal farmers in Odisha's Kandhamal district are selling their turmeric harvest at half the usual market rate. 

#Livelihoods #Agriculture #ODISHA
CRIME SURVEYS
The way we measure hate crimes is simply bogus

Safety and criminality in society must be assessed directly from the people themselves. The government is deluding itself and citizens by conflating law enforcement statistics with crime data, writes Tara Krishnaswamy.

#Caste #Justice System #Government #Society
SC/ST EMPOWERMENT
How successful has been the SC/ST Sub-Plan

It has been more than 3 decades since the scheme of Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan was implemented. It was given statutory status by converting it into an Act in Karnataka in 2013.  Kathyayini Chamaraj examines the promises of the scheme and Act and questions the outcomes.

#Government
KOLKATA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL
People's cinema with people's support
KOLKATA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL : People's cinema with people's support

Shoma A. Chatterji writes about a film festival that lacks the glitz and glamour of stars, television cameras and paparazzi chasing famous people to freeze them for the media.

#Human Rights #Media
A TRIBUTE
Mahasweta Devi in cinema

Mahasweta Devi remains a writer whose work was almost impossible to express through cinema, writes Shoma Chatterji paying a tribute to the legendary writer and social activist.

#Gender and Media #Society Films and Books #Media
LIMBU TAMANG ISSUE
Tribal seat reservation issue rakes up storm in Sikkim

Soumik Dutta writes about how Limbu-Tamang tribal seat reservation in the Sikkim legislative assembly could change the political scenario in Sikkim.

#Government #SIKKIM
SUSTAINABLE FOOD
Rays of hope for the ‘local’ in Meghalaya

Even as many pockets of the state, including its capital, battle the ravages of development and consumerism, a couple of villages visited by the author stand as examples of resilient local economies and lifestyles. Aditya Vikram Rametra describes what he saw here.

#Biodiversity #Agriculture
TRIBAL SUB PLAN
Diversion of funds mars tribal welfare plans

Despite numerous development plans and programs, the tribals of our nation remain the most marginalised group. Abhijit Mohanty examines the Tribal Sub Plan funds and what's happening with them

#Caste #Government #ODISHA

EARLIER ARTICLES
in this topic ...
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003