Positive Stories

February 20, 2021

Lighting up Lives: Villagers contribute more than Rs 10 million to electrify 839 government schools in six months across Nagaur district in Rajasthan

The Ujas campaign in Rajasthan has electrified 839 of the 910 government schools in the district in the space of six months. The people who funded 80% of the cost of electrification, and a district magistrate who helmed the initiative, made this happen.

Neetu Singh
February 20, 2021

With focus on rural tourism, Uttarakhand reviving the tourism sector post-pandemic: Dilip Jawalkar

To revive the tourism sector affected by the pandemic, Uttarakhand is promoting rural tourism to generate employment and provide better expedition facilities. Dilip Jawalkar, tourism secretary of the state, informed this during the third India Tourism Mart.

Shivani Gupta
February 16, 2021

Treeman: Bhaiyaram Yadav of Chitrakoot has created a forest with more than 40,000 trees

In summer, Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is dry and brown, but not Bharatpur village. A human-made forest by a small hill outside the village is lush with greenery. This is the result of years of dedicated work by Bhaiyaram Yadav.

Divendra Singh
February 13, 2021

Get your Goat: In Maharashtra’s Akola, take home a pregnant goat and repay with four baby goats

Goat rearing in Maharashtra gets a fillip as a goat bank in Akola district offers a unique scheme where people can borrow a pregnant goat from a bank and repay the loan in kind with four baby goats, within 40 months.

Divendra Singh
February 13, 2021

Community radio helps people in remote areas in Uttarakhand and the Nilgiris speak up and be heard

In remote pockets of Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu, community radios provide two-way communication and get people talking. These community radios could be invaluable in saving lives in times of distress, such as the recent Uttarakhand flash floods. A Gaon Connection report on World Radio Day.

Pankaja Srinivasan
February 11, 2021

Menstrual Hygiene: Two young people from Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir help underprivileged women access sanitary pads

An employee of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, and an engineer from Srinagar make sanitary napkins accessible to the poor and underprivileged women in Kashmir.

Irfan Amin Malik
February 10, 2021

Jungle Book: While others were financially crippled during the pandemic, two forest villages in Melghat, Maharashtra, offered cash and interest-free loans to its residents

Community forest resource rights under the Forest Rights Act helped Rahu and Payvihir villages earn money. Banking on this income, they helped villagers financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Rahu, 175 homes received Rs 10,000 each and 20 villagers got interest-free loans in Payvihir.

Shailaja Tripathi
February 3, 2021

Exorcising social evil: Jharkhand’s Chutni Mahato awarded Padma Shri for rescuing women from witch hunting

Chutni Mahato, survived a witch-hunt, and set about helping others like her who were accused of being witches. Between 2016 and 2019, 79 people were killed in Jharkhand on suspicions of practising witchcraft.

Ashwini Shukla
February 2, 2021

Grassroots Revival: It is the World Wetlands Day. And in the Nilgiris, native flora in its marshes, shola forests and grasslands is being restored

Ecologists, students, corporates and individuals in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris, pitch in to restore wetlands and grasslands with native species of grass, shrubs and sholas that have all but disappeared.

Pankaja Srinivasan
January 28, 2021

Full of Beans: Wholesome winter food in Uttarakhand

In the Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttarakhand, winter brings with it a deliciously unique cuisine. Herbs from the upper reaches of the Himalayan state, and a rich haul of locally grown beans, tubers, citrus fruits and sun dried vegetables, provide sustenance, nutrition and warmth in the cold months to the mountain people.

Megha Prakash