Positive Stories
In this gram panchayat in Bihar, villagers willingly come forward for COVID19 vaccination
While reports of reluctance in rural Indians to get vaccinated across India pour in, the gram panchayat of Kaithi Bankat in Bihar shows the way forward. Within active support of village heads and the PHC, vaccination camps have been a success.
Divendra Singh
A portal with registered nurseries from across India. Go ahead and order your favourite sapling!
An online portal, developed by the National Horticulture Board, has 803 registered nurseries to enable the sale and purchase of fruit, vegetable and spice plants. Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched it recently.
Divendra Singh
Thousands of tribal women chart their own future after vocational training
About 4,300 women in Dungarpur and Banswara districts of Rajasthan have gone on to set up their own enterprises after undergoing skill development training offered by the Dungarpur Municipal Council and local non-profits.
Madhav Sharma
On Jur Sital, the Maithili New Year, the chulha maharani gets a break
For Maithili New Year, Jur Sital, which falls today, April 14, people in the Mithila region give the kitchen much-needed rest, indulge in some kite-flying, play a version of Holi with silt from water bodies, and sprinkle water on each other to beat the summer heat.
Shillpi A Singh
Delivering wishes wrapped in cardboard and duct tape
Gaon Connection’s 45-day campaign called Hands of India, supported by Flipkart, the e-commerce company, presents stories of creators, sellers and customers. The aim of the series is to create empathy and a sense of pride for the people who help build India. Read the first of the series about Ramsingh Pawar who delivers cargo, and believes that along with every precious parcel, he delivers great joy, too.
Pankaja Srinivasan
Puthandu Vazhuthugal: Neem flowers, jaggery and raw mangoes on Tamil New Year
Never has the neem flower pachchadi traditionally made for Tamil New Year been so significant as it has in this year of the pandemic. It stands for the metaphor of life, full of sweet, sour and bitter things, but still beautiful and filled with hope.
Pankaja Srinivasan
Three decades since anyone has taken dowry in this Kashmir village
A village in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir views the practice of dowry as a serious crime. Anyone demanding it is ostracised, barred from offering prayers in the local mosque and not allowed to bury their dead in the village graveyard.
Mudassir Kuloo
Sparrow boxes and a lesson in conservation
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.
Sachin Tulsa Tripathi
Creating a buzz to tackle an elephantine problem
The Khadi and Village Industries Ltd’s RE-HAB project, launched last year in Karnataka, addresses human-elephant conflict through bee-fencing. It is also raising income of the local farmers.
Arvind Shukla
Women in Varanasi set to enter the world of toy making traditionally occupied by the menfolk
A skill upgradation training programme initiated by the Central government in prime minister Narendra Modi’s constituency at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, is preparing 200 women to enter the business of wooden toy making.