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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Soumik Dutta writes about how Limbu-Tamang tribal seat reservation in the Sikkim legislative assembly could change the political scenario in Sikkim.
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.
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
India Together is published with support from Oorvani Foundation.
