Building fences: Women in Bareilly make wire and metal netting to protect farmlands from stray cattle, and earn a living
In Uttar Pradesh, 560,408 women self-help groups across the state’s 75 districts have helped rural women into self employment and economic independence. In Bareilly district, women associated with more than 7,000 SHGs are making barbed wire fences to masalas, growing their business and becoming self-reliant.
Ramji Mishra
‘Prerak’ teachers fume over pending dues in election-bound Uttar Pradesh
Originally hired as part of a literacy program for adults, ‘prerak’ teachers in Uttar Pradesh have been asked to perform various auxiliary duties but they haven’t received their payments for almost three years now. With the election fervour running high in the state, the protesting teachers have intensified their struggle for the payment of their services. Details here.
Ramji Mishra
Sweet tidings for farmers as scientists in Shahjahanpur develop a variety of sugarcane that is pest-resistant
Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur, has developed a variety of sugarcane that is pest resistant and may be the answer to the red rot disease. The new variety, KoSha 13235, is being distributed to the farmers through sugarcane cooperatives and they in turn are being encouraged to share it with fellow farmers.
Ramji Mishra
Heavy rains leave urad dal farmers from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh in deep waters
Urad dal farmers in Rampur district, Uttar Pradesh in a welter of woes as unexpected rains and flooding of rivers damage their ready-to-harvest crops
Ramji Mishra
Ishrat Jahan epitomises the pain of farmers repeatedly hit by extreme weather events
Their paddy was ripe and the farmers, after harvesting it, had placed it in neatly arranged bundles in their fields. They had hoped that the sunlight would rid their harvest of the little moisture left in their crops. But heavy rainfall in the past three days has washed away their hopes leaving them buried under debt. Details here.
Ramji Mishra
Infused with pride and grief, a UP village bids farewell to its son Lance Naik Satyam Pathak
A resident of Behti Khurd village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district, Lance Naik Satyam Kumar Pathak died of a heart attack yesterday in a bone-chilling cold of Ladakh. His mortal remains arrived at his village today morning where he was given a final farewell. He is survived by his four children, his widow and old parents.
Ramji Mishra
Rural women in Shahjahanpur are turning their lives around, one straw at a time
Working from within their homes, 20 women of an SHG in a small village of Uttar Pradesh, are making products like straws, baskets and slippers from eco-friendly bamboo and khus, and supplementing their family incomes.
Ramji Mishra
Poonch attack: Sepoy Saraj Singh’s mother spoke to him three days ago, now she awaits his mortal remains
Yesterday, October 11, five Indian soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack in Poonch, Jammu & Kashmir. Twenty-six-year-old Sepoy Saraj Singh, who belonged to Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was one of them. Son of a farmer, his two elder brothers are also in the armed forces. Saraj’s mortal remains are expected to reach his village tomorrow.
Ramji Mishra
Some media people are putting words in our mouth: journalist Raman Kashyap’s brother
On October 3, eight people were killed in violent clashes in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. A journalist, Raman Kashyap, died too. Gaon Connection met the scribe’s family which was visibly upset with some media groups who, the family members said, were trying to present Raman’s death as lynching.
Ramji Mishra
A farewell to alms as little hands that once begged now hold notebooks to read and write
The Kanjar community in Akbarpur village of Uttar Pradesh, traditionally begs for a living, and none of its members have ever been to school. A village youth has brought a flicker of hope by teaching the first generation kids of this marginalised community.