-PTI KENDRAPARA: With the Harvesting of paddy crop drawing near, the age-old practice of 'Badalia', a system of exchanging labour services prevalent in coastal districts, is showing signs of revival in some pockets of Odisha. A small and marginal farmer like Jugal Kishore Lenka is all set to work in a fellow farmer's plot during Harvesting to cut down his need for cash in the post-demonetisation scenario. Together with Sudam Sahu, a fellow...

-TheThirdPole.net Anupam Mishra, who spent three decades fighting for rejuvenation of India’s traditional water Harvesting systems, died on December 19 If many of India’s ponds, wells, stepwells, springs, check dams and other traditional water Harvesting systems are still in working order today, if at least a few of India’s rivers have been revived, much of the credit must go to Anupam Mishra. Through reportage, analysis and advocacy sustained over three decades, this...

-The Telegraph Paradip: For Jugal Kishore Lenka, a marginal farmer from Goda village in Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district, badalia, the once popular system of exchange of labour, has come as a big relief. Cash strapped by demonetisation, he was worried about labour payments for Harvesting his paddy. Now, he has entered into a badalia arrangement with fellow farmer Sudam Sahu, who is also looking for labour for paddy Harvesting. They can now exchange...

-Down to Earth Collective rights to undo historic injustice meted out to indigenous people remain completely ignored by the states, says Citizens’ report Ten years after the historic Forest Rights Act (FRA) was passed by the Indian lawmakers, only three per cent of villages or communities could secure their rights over forest resources which include land and the produce from the forests and water, states the Citizens’ Report prepared by Community...

-The Hindu They are often detained for carrying their annual savings — Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,000 — to nearby banks. Kolkata: Deep inside the forested areas of Bastar in south Chhattisgarh, the Gond tribals are confronting a “new problem” besides the usual ones. They are often detained for carrying their annual savings — Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,000 — to nearby banks, which is commonly as far as 50 km from their villages. “We are suspected...