In the last 6 months of working with the Van Gujjar community in Uttarakhand,...
Encouraging The Next Generation Of Girls and Women of Vadasar, Bhuj
The following is a conversation with Preeti ben, Sarpanch of Vadasar Gram...
Forming A Multi-Layer Kitchen Garden
Traditionally, vegetables have been cultivated in household gardens that vary...
Choices And Preferences Of Women In Bhuj
As a woman who has more social class privilege than a lot of other women, I...
The Christmas Canopy In Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh
One of the key areas where a lot of social enterprises need support is in...
Diamond Rush: It’s All About Luck
“Kaunsa wala khadaan dekhna hai? Sarkaari ya jo naadi kinaare hai woh ?”...
Van Gujjar Settlements In Uttarakhand
It was my third week at Living Lightly and second week at our Dehradun...
डीएनटी समुदाय के साथ सामुदायिक कार्यक्रम
आज़ादी के बाद स्वतंत्र भारत में आधुनिक दौर का आरंभ करते हुए आपराधिक जनजाति...
Learning Without Reading: A Day With Enterprising Rural Women
"Anokhi" - A unique initiative by Shram Sarathi, in collaboration with STEP Academy (Skill Training, Employ-ability & Placement), supported by Aajeevika Bureau. It's designed to equip women entrepreneurs with tools and skills they may need to thrive in their...
Everyday Life At a Brick Kiln in Maharashtra
Imagine moving-in to a new place with your family for four months carrying all your possessions. How about doing it every year! While working with Katkari tribe in Raigad, on their social upliftment, one of the key issues we battle every year is Migration. They leave...
An Unforgettable Visit To The ANC And Under-Five Camp
Ante-natal Women & Under Five Children’s Clinic (ANC camp) is a medical camp organized by Swasthya Swaraj. It is an important program activity that happens every month in different clusters. To give you a background, Swasthya Swaraj has 2 major clinic centers -...
Unheard Stories of Salwa Judum Movement
A session on Natural Disasters was going on in my class, located inside a Porta Cabin in Sukma, Chhattisgarh. After a brief explanation, I asked everyone to write what they understood along with a few examples. Next day, students were ready with their stories. They...
A Sweet And Sour Encounter
It was a hot and humid day, in a Rajasthani Village I visited a few months ago, my first time in this part of the country. Rainy season was beginning and the petrichor reminding me of the full-blown monsoon I had left back home in Mumbai. I was accompanied by two...
How Santhal Tribe Celebrates: A Video Blog
Purulia has been a drought-prone district of West Bengal, India, with a semi-arid landscape. It has a rich cultural heritage, with a fusion of Bengali tradition and a touch of the tribal essence in it. People here celebrate a variety of local festivals with lots of...
Friday Phenomenon In Schools : Eggs & Bananas
I believe that every problem in the universe has a cause and one or more solution(s). Before getting on to the Friday phenomenon as mentioned in the headline, I'd like to talk about the mid-day meal (MDM) program in schools. Interestingly, the history of Pondicherry...
The Complex Dynamics Of Morality In Kalahandi, Odisha
During my stay in the United Kingdom, I volunteered at a not-for-profit organization which worked for advocacy of human rights. As a case-worker, I had developed empathy for people’s problems and started to believe in the romantic ideology that people are devoid of...
Cohabitation as a Way of Convenient Lifestyle
There were fewer students in my school that day and I was talking to some of the boys from 10th grade. It is located in the village of Jhed, Rajasthan. They were curious about my age and lifestyle. The conversation led to their understanding of relationships, gender...
Everyday Life At Porta Cabins Of Sukma
What are Porta Cabins? An innovative educational initiative began in Chhattisgarh, to build schools with temporary material like bamboo and plywood. These were residential schools that were started to ensure continued primary and middle level education in left wing...
पुरुलिया, पश्चिम बंगाल में सोहराय त्यौहार – एक चित्र कथा
जैसा की मैंने अपने पिछले ब्लॉग में बताया था की मैं इंडिया फ़ेलो द्वारा पुरुलिया में एक सामुदायिक रेडियो स्टेशन नित्यानंद जनवाणी 91.2 FM में नियुक्त किया गया हूँ| मेरे आगमन के समय पुरुलिया हरी-भरी नयी फसलों से लहलहा रहा था जोकि अब पांच महीने बाद सुनहरी घनी फसलों में...
Vegetable Cultivation by Katkari Tribe in Rural Maharashtra
Ratna Tai* walked ahead, leading a coterie of her fellow villagers to the farming lands where they planned to grow Kareli (Bitter gourd). She walked briskly while we struggled to catch up with her pace, jumping over thickets and bushes, ducking wild branches and...
Bail Pola: A Way of Celebrating Human-Animal Relationship
Nature is considered a reflection of truth in the holy book of Quran. Hindu scriptures also emphasize on divinity contained in the elements of nature - Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space. Religious books, the predominant source of values in any culture, recognize the...
Healthcare – A Privilege for HER?
Tribal women of Udaipur District, Rajasthan How do you react when a father-in-law says about his Bahu (daughter-in-law), “Aap mujhe isko bade asptaal le jane kyun bol rahe ho? Yeh mar gayi toh mai isko jala dunga, woh meri zimmedari hai.” (Why are you asking me to...