Three Tharu tribe women contest the UP panchayat elections. On unreserved seats
The gram panchayat elections are underway in Uttar Pradesh, and three women from the Tharu tribal community are contesting on unreserved seats. They tell Gaon Connection how they will bring about change in their community if they are voted as gram pradhans.
Neetu Singh
‘Against a daily target of 1,000 COVID vaccines, only 200-250 vaccinations being administered’
On World Health Day, a Gaon Connection ground report from Lakhimpur district in rural Uttar Pradesh reveals that villagers here believe COVID-19 is a city-disease. Rural community health centres, who are given a daily target of administering 1,000 vaccine doses, are unable to meet their target.
Neetu Singh
All Janaki Devi is left with is gnawing hunger and memories of her husband
Gaon Connection met with a family it first spoke to in March 2020, the day after lockdown. The family’s life has turned topsy turvy in one year. It lost its head of the family and has learnt to call a small patch of footpath in Lucknow home.
Neetu Singh
Rural women’s ‘grain banks’ in Uttar Pradesh support small farmers, aid food security amidst COVID-19
The Grain Bank is an initiative that began in 2016, with the objective of benefitting farmers with small land holdings, but during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown, it has turned into a movement to battle starvation and empower women in rural areas Uttar Pradesh.
Neetu Singh
Bring home the Bajra
Krishi Vigyan Kendras across Uttar Pradesh are helping reintroduce the nutritious bajra in rural diets, including anganwadis, to combat malnutrition and anaemia in women and children.
Neetu Singh
Poonam Tiwari, an international level weightlifter, coaches village girls — many of whom have won accolades
Ever since the nation-wide lockdown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic was announced in March, last year, Poonam Tiwari has been coaching athletes that hail from villages in and around Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh. The coaching is free of cost and many of these rural girls have bagged medals at national and state levels.
Neetu Singh
‘Women’s courts’ in UP villages address gender violence
The contribution of women in the rural landscape is hardly ever talked about or gets recognised. On International Women’s Day, Gaon Connection reports stories that showcase women empowerment from India’s villages. In the first part of the series, read about the story of ‘women’s court’ in the villages of Uttar Pradesh.
Neetu Singh
The Weapon of Choice: This time round, perpetrators in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, use poison to assault three Dalit women, leaving two dead
There are at least 60 million female farmers and agriculture labourers in India who are often hailed as the backbone of the country’s rural economy. Yet they live under the constant shadow of physical assault and death.
Neetu Singh
Growing Success: 19 women-owned FPOs are providing agriculture-related services to farmers in Jharkhand
Women farmers in Jharkhand become joint owners of farmer producer organisations through the self-help groups they are a part of. They sell quality agricultural goods to farmers at fair prices and also offer expert agricultural advice free of cost.
Neetu Singh
Has India truly become open-defecation free?
The home of one of the Unnao victims in Baburaha village did not have a toilet, like many other houses in the same village. Uttar Pradesh had declared itself open-defecation free in 2018. This is the situation in many other states.