Ear to the ground

Esha Roy

10 Jan 2025 • 21 min read

In migration-prone Uttarakhand, a fresh crop of women leaders

Many villages in this Himalayan state have had their fortunes turned around by all-woman Gram Panchayats

Roli Srivastava

15 Nov 2024 • 17 min read

Millionaire village: How forest ownership rights reshaped the fortunes of a tribal village

Pachgaon village in Maharashtra has tapped its forest to start a bamboo business, create jobs and arrest migration. The village pays taxes and is also making a neat profit.

Esha Roy

18 Oct 2024 • 22 min read

Rural help desks yield bumper crops, increase incomes

Nagarik Sahayta Kendras, a collaboration between civil society organisations and the government, were launched to help villagers get jobs under MGNREGA and access dues. Today, they have expanded beyond their brief to play an invaluable role in rural Jharkhand

Roli Srivastava

27 Sep 2024 • 16 min read

‘Jungle is our life’: The story of a village collective

India gives tribal villages rights over forest land and its produce but the laws have been poorly implemented. A union of villages in Maharashtra is now using them to guard their green cover and monetise the produce, which has arrested migration from villages