-DNA If we observe closely, the women entrepreneurs who run a variety of local small businesses are drivers of the local economy in many ways. Never ending stretches of backwaters and lush green coconut groves welcome you as you drive through the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is the only state in India where the sex ratio is of 1084 females per 1000 males. At 92%, Kerala has one of...

-The Hindu DINDIGUL (Tamil Nadu): Fifty villages with acute water scarcity in 25 districts in the State have been chosen for the Central government’s ‘Jal Gram’ scheme to make them water surplus through integrated development and water conservation measures, according to A. Subburaj, Regional Director, the Central Water Commission. Addressing a workshop on water conservation, water security and water quality, organised by the CWC here on Thursday, Mr. Subburaj said two villages...

-The Hindu Business Line Nine years after a landmark law empowering local communities, thousands of forest villages across India struggle to regain their traditional rights over resources and livelihoods Sundar Singh Rabha always carries a certain file folder. He holds it against himself in a hot tin car as it jangles along forest roads towards village Shalkumar, in a northern corner of West Bengal. His phone rings without respite. Every few minutes,...

-The Hindu Business Line One small check dam helps stem migration in Khohar, Haryana Every year, nearly all the 150 households of village Khohar, in Haryana’s Mewat district, pack their bags in September and embark on a journey to Gujarat. Hired to pick cotton, they spend the next 4-5 months in pitched tents, working from dawn to dusk. “We return with around ₹50,000 earned between everyone in the family. This sees us through...

-Livemint.com Large dairy farms are critical for the next stage of India's white revolution Nagara (Anand): Sunil Patel hardly looks like a dairy farmer in his loafers, sleek glasses and cotton trousers. As he guides me to his farm of 110 cows through the narrow lanes of Nagara, a small village around 60 km from India’s milk capital, Anand, I notice most of the houses have piped natural gas connections. Nagara, like...