-India.Mongabay.com * Millets are being revived in the state of Odisha, on a large scale under its flagship Odisha Millets Mission. Millets grow well in dry zones as rain-fed crops and are considered low-duty crops. * The revival is helping women farmers in the tribal districts of the state to enhance their livelihood opportunities and become financially independent. * In Mayurbhanj, the third most populous district in Odisha, the number of women farmers...

-The Hindu Lack of bridge across the Chaliyar hits tribal students in Kerala Malappuram: Dozens of children from four marooned tribal hamlets in the jungle across the Chaliyar river at Munderi near Nilambur in Kerala are risking their lives to reach schools every day. They have been forced to use bamboo rafts to cross the river since two bridges were washed away in the floods that devastated one of the hamlets in...

-Newsclick.in Inadequate infrastructure and insufficient health personnel emerged as the leading problem keeping women from accessing medical care. As many as 60% of women in the country face trouble accessing healthcare for themselves, the findings of the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey(NFHS) have revealed. The complete report— which had surveyed women between the ages of 15-49 years about potential problems in obtaining medical treatment for themselves when they are...

-Down to Earth Poor financial conditions, reliance on public distribution system among factors that drove change, reduced dietary diversity  There has been a dietary shift among the Bhil and Bhilala tribes of Madhya Prasesh’s Alirajpur and Jhabua districts over the years. Loss of dietary diversity, including little or no consumption of meat, as well as a change in their staple cereal, may impact the health and erode traditional knowledge of the tribals...

-The New Indian Express Poultry farming of this protein-rich black chicken paying rich dividends, reports Anuraag Singh MADHYA PRADESH: In many parts of the country, the colour black has been considered inauspicious. But in the forests of western Madhya Pradesh’s tribal-dominated Bheelanchal region, the same colour is ushering in fortune and prosperity in the lives of people who were once forced to work as labourers in adjoining Gujarat. Welcome to Jhabua, Alirajpur and...