-Govenance Now There is need for timely intervention to prevent malnutrition in tribal children She is tall, skinny and dark-complexioned. She sports a tattoo of lines and dots on her forehead, as if displaying a hieroglyphic text. Her neck is laden with beaded jewellery and a thick, rusted iron chain while the ears are pierced at two spots. The white sari draped till her knees contrasts with green and red glass bangles....

-Governance Now On World Food Day, the country needs to focus on promoting the dying practice of locally producing food by aboriginals like Baigas and Gonds After spending almost a month among tribals of Mandla in Madhya Pradesh, I can confidently say that by restricting ourselves to Public Distribution System (PDS), we cannot solve the food security issues of the country.   The problem is graver. In a district like Mandla, where...

-Newslaundry.com/ Video Volunteers One man’s efforts to bring back traditional crops and methods of cultivation has ensured land rights and food security for an indigenous tribe. “The forest officials would come and beat us up when we tried to cultivate in our lands. My father died in 1986. They had beaten him and locked him up. He died because of that,” says Bhagwati, who belongs to the Baiga community from Dindori of...

-The Indian Express Baigas in court against order issued by govt of undivided MP Achanakmar: “THAK GAYI (I am tired),” says Ranichand Baiga, 26. She was married at 15, and in a tribe where non-surgical contraceptives are still unheard of, has since had eight children. Two, she says, died of illness. On her arm, outside her one-room home in the core zone of the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, is her youngest son, Surya,...

-The Indian Express A new initiative attempts to economically empower villagers living near Kanha National Park, and protect its green cover and wildlife. The Kanha–Pench forest corridor is rich in biodiversity and home to a large concentration of tigers, leopards, gaurs, barasingha, and cheetal. But with the population of the villages increasing and land holdings shrinking, conservation efforts were paramount. If the needs of the villagers for improved livelihoods are not...