-The Hindu Apiculture is one of the vocations thrown open to 30 tribal farmers of Pachamalai TIRUCHI: The Integrated Tribal Development Programme being implemented by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in Pachamalai, about 90 km from here, has been ensuring economic uplift of poor landless labourers. A number of vocations have been introduced for their benefit as per their needs, interest and taste. Many tribal persons have responded positively....

-Theweekendleader.com/ Women's Feature Service Purulia (West Bengal): It was ironical that Purulia district often found itself on the West Bengal government's 'drought-hit' list when the average rainfall here is 1100mm-1500mm. The failure to conserve water as well as poor agricultural practices meant that despite back-breaking labour in the fields, farmers could only achieve six months' food sufficiency. Today, however, all that is changing thanks to a water management revolution led by ordinary village...

-The Times of India RAIPUR: "Should I repay loan with cheque of Rs 81 or go and commit suicide to rid of this disgusting cheque and the load of debt both?" asks a distressed farmer at a village in Surguja district has suffered loss of crop on his four acre of land amounting to Rs 1 lakh. Surguja district administration paid this farmer a relief compensation of Rs 81 via a cheque...

-BBC Not so long ago, Birubala Rabha believed witches existed. Assam: Growing up, neighbours often told her about evil women, or daini (witches) skulking in the village. Ms Rabha was six when her father died, forcing her to drop out of school to help her mother, a farm worker in India's north-eastern Assam state. She was 15 when she got married to a farmer. Ms Rabha mostly stayed at home, weaving and looking after their...

-The Hindu Forging gram sabha resolutions clears the path to lucrative mining... Such fictions manufacture on file the legal requirement of villagers’ participation and consent. Over 12,000 villages across Odisha conserve their community forests, says a 2013 Odisha Jungle Manch study. In a visit last October to seven villages in Keonjhar district’s Gandhamardan range, Munda communities showed me their forest protection rosters. Each roster listed four villagers for every weekday to roam...