Kisan Mahapanchayat: Compensation for dead farmers, MSP guarantee, Seed Bill; farmer leader Rakesh Tikait lists key issues
Thousands of farmers gathered in Lucknow today, November 22, to highlight that the year-long agitation which claimed the lives of almost 700 cultivators was not merely about the three laws. What more do the farmers demand? A ground report from the protest site.
Shivani Gupta
No vaccination, no rations: Madhya Pradesh ‘boosts’ vaccination campaign?
The Madhya Pradesh government decides to provide ration to beneficiaries only if they have been inoculated with both doses of the COVID 19 vaccine. Food rights experts believe this is denying the poor their rights. The order will be implemented in the new year.
Shivani Gupta
Maharashtra launches door-to-door search for TB patients; mine and construction workers in rural areas to be in focus
To identify tuberculosis patients, the state government has launched a 10-day long search campaign amongst high risk groups such as workers in mines, construction, and kilns. Meanwhile, India has accounted for the largest dip in global shortfall in tuberculosis notifications. Is the pandemic to be blamed?
Shivani Gupta
Chhattisgarh’s ‘mitanins’ take to the streets demanding their unpaid COVID19 incentives
ASHA workers in Chhattisgarh’s Korea district complain that many of them have not been paid the COVID19 incentives they were promised by the government, and what is worse, they allege, those who got the incentives were being made to return it. Officials have denied such allegations. Meanwhile, mitanins have warned of an indefinite strike if their grievances were not addressed.
Shivani Gupta
I may have received Padma Shri but I will always be a small farmer: ‘Seed Mother’ Rahibai Popere tells Gaon Connection
Sixty-one-year old tribal farmer from Maharashtra was conferred India’s fourth-highest civilian award yesterday at the Padma Shri awards ceremony held in New Delhi. Rahibai Popere, who has conserved 154 indigenous varieties of seeds, told Gaon Connection that PM Modi has promised to visit her village but there are no roads to her remote village.
Shivani Gupta
Will this Diwali brighten up Khushahalganj, a potters’ village, reeling under losses for over a year now?
While sales have picked up in urban centres during the festival season, potters’ community that supplies diyas, clay idols and other items related to Diwali celebrations, is still reeling under losses due to the pandemic. On Dhanteras, the first day of Diwali, Gaon Connection visited two potters’ villages near Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. And this is what we found out.
Shivani Gupta
From a debt-ridden tomato farmer to a profit-making cowpea cultivator, Bharathamma Poreddy is an inspiration to many
Tomato farmers in Andhra Pradesh, the largest tomato producing state in the country, are switching to polycropping methods by cultivating a variety of vegetables rather than depending only on a single crop of tomato whose prices are always fluctuating. Forty-three-year-old Bharathamma Poreddy, a traditional tomato farmer, is one such farmer who is inspiring others.
Shivani Gupta
Graphic designing classes and virtual learning – a village school is breaking stereotypes of rural education
As part of a novel initiative, Bharatiya Gramin Vidyalaya, about 40 kilometres from Lucknow, has set up a skill centre that imparts training in latest courses, such as graphic designing, to rural students to prepare them for the future job market. The school has been running virtual classes way before the COVID19 pandemic forced the world to switch to online schooling.
Shivani Gupta
‘Serious’ levels of hunger in India, shows Global Hunger Index; govt terms the methodology ‘unscientific’
Recently released Global Hunger Index report paints a grim picture of the hunger crisis in India. Of 116 countries, India has been ranked 101, which is lower than its rank of 94 last year in 2020. The Indian government has called the report “shocking” and “devoid of ground reality”. Can India achieve ‘zero hunger’ by 2030?
Shivani Gupta
Using indigenous seeds to sustain livelihoods, fight climate change and pay off loans
A tribal farmer from Madhya Pradesh has been conserving indigenous seeds for nearly four decades. These seeds require less water, are suitable for local climate and terrain, and are cheaper alternatives to hybrid seeds, she says. The adivasi farmer also plans to use her seed bank as an asset to pay off loans.