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Recognizing the importance of having a perennial source of water when planning any agricultural activity and change, the women of Kelaur, India installed solar energy-powered water pumps, allowing them to cultivate vegetables and fruit in their homesteads, which brought about a sea-change in their economic status and self-sufficiency.

A walk through the forest organized by elders of Jharna Ghughari kindled in children, an interest about forest biodiversity and the need for forest conservation.

Amidst the challenges posed by Covid, a tribal forest village in Madhya Pradesh seems to have reinforced the realisation that farms, forests, village commons and collective knowhow together buffer tribals against vulnerability

Deskilling of Central Indian Plateau Adivasis has led to loss of traditional knowledge and indigenous seeds. Efforts are on to reskill them by reviving traditional practices

Sukanti Oraon of Jana, a village in Gumla district of Jharkhand, clearly remembers the day her Self Help Group (SHG) was formed. It was the 25th of November 1995, Saturday. Women of this Adivasi village came together to form SHGs with guidance from PRADAN, a national level Non-profit.

T he surge in COVID-19 cases in India has become the chief reason to worry about. Not just for the imminent risks of losing lives, but equally or perhaps more for losing livelihoods at a massive scale. Some experts are arguing that the likely toll claimed by the latter would surpass the former especially under the probability that the virus could linger on for quite some time in the fore- seeable future.

As India is primarily an agrarian economy supporting 60% of the population, reviving agriculture and allied sectors would be critical post COVID.

It was a sunny summer morning in 2017. Self Help Group (SHG) members of Jana[1] congregated beneath the tamarind tree, their usual meeting place. Some men also were sitting there and the SHG members were taking loan to purchase inorganic fertilizers and hybrid seeds. They were discussing whether they would go for the indigenous variety of crops that they had been growing in previous years.

As India enters into the 4th phase of lockdown, we are caught between the dilemma of savings lives or protecting livelihoods by keeping the economy open and running. The most marginalised, daily wage earners, unorganised labour class and those at the fringes of our society have been disproportionately affected. With the migrant labourers returning home with no cash or savings, village communities are stressed due to the loss of remittance income, and the added mouths to feed.

In the heart of eastern India, teenagers of the Santhal tribe begin to chronicle stories of their ancient cultural heritage using modern tools – DSLR cameras and the Internet.