Gaon Connection Blogs

The Bishnupriya Manipuris aren’t a vote bank in either Tripura or Assam, where there is no single assembly constituency with my community being dominant. So, our issues are hardly highlighted by political parties and are rarely discussed in the mainstream media.

The Government of India devotes only 1.35% of its GDP to health care as of now. The Government's investment in public health must at least double. Nations that have invested heavily in public health facilities, such as China, spend anywhere between 5 and 8% of their GDP on public health.

ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar recognises the need to conserve this breed. Their efforts have now borne fruit in the form of a Zanskari horse foal using Embryo transfer technology.

If farmers are planting the same variety of paddy in a field where it was previously planted, there's no cause for concern. However, if they switch to a different variety, it's important to remember that the fields are watered immediately after sowing.

Not gold or silver, it is the humble rice that is finding its way to the hearts of fashionable people. After trying out metal, paper, and flower jewellery, people of taste who like unconventional pieces of jewellery are getting fascinated by paddy jewellery. 

Weaving palm leaves together to make decoration pieces, and weaving traditional headgears with siali leaves are the ancient crafts of the Bhumij tribe. A Balasore-based charitable trust is working with villagers to keep the craft alive.

Compact and portable solar powered pump sets are making irrigation easier and farmers using them say it has had a positive impact on their crop yield in Jharkhand.

Archana Shukla, a biology teacher in a government school in Satna, Madhya Pradesh, teaches her students academics and the need to conserve house sparrows. She has helped build more than 200 wooden sparrow boxes.

The pearl millet or kambu as it is called in Tamil Nadu is made into a simple, no-nonsense, cooling, filling and nutritious porridge with yoghurt, that is just perfect to beat the summers.

Once the event concluded, the stockpile of the ‘good’ bena was carefully put away for future use. Like other articles, this stock also travelled from house to house in the spirit of community and shared existence.