-India Water Portal Bankura in West Bengal receives 1000 mm of rainfall a year, yet thousands of adivasi farmers in the area were faced with irrigation issues -- until 'happas' came to the rescue. Amulya Soren couldn’t get stable yields in the kharif (monsoon) paddy in his farm. A member of the Santhal tribe, he was the beneficiary of a surplus land redistribution programme in Hirbandh block of Bankura, West Bengal....
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Inside the world of sand mafia: Terror casts gloom as cops bury heads -Rajesh Kumar Singh
-Hindustan Times Hamirpur/ Jalaun/ Banda: The dangerous sand mafia stops at nothing. It kills, runs over men in uniform, kidnaps and, in Uttar Pradesh, even molests and rapes. Its impunity stems from the fact, as an HT investigation found, that complaints lodged with police often remain confined to files. Shivpal Singh, gram pradhan of Bansariya village, testifies to the mafia’s dominance. “In March 2014, the musclemen of a kingpin sexually assaulted two women...
More »More Credit for Agricultural Households?: NSSO’s 70th Round on Indebtedness -Sher Singh Sangwan
-Economic and Political Weekly An increase in indebtedness in agriculture between 2003 and 2013 does not necessarily mean a growth in debt that has debilitated the cultivator. Higher indebtedness may also reflect a more enabling process--the increased availability of institutional credit. An analysis of NSSO data. Sher Singh Sangwan (drsangwan8@gmail.com) is at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report, Situation Assessment of Agricultural...
More »'Number of women tobacco users rising' -Sushmi Dey
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The number of women consuming tobacco products has doubled over 15 years, according to a report by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). While only 10% of women consumed tobacco products during the mid- and late-1990s, the number has increased to 20% in recent years, the report said. Tobacco consumption among men has remained in the range of 45-57% between 1995-96 and 2009-10. The increase in...
More »Melinda in our midst
-The Telegraph Ranchi: Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, today went to Sondari village in Khunti, some 60km from Ranchi, asking village women how farming helped empower their lives. Around 10am, before they pushed off to their haats, fields or got bound to their family kitchens for the day, village women found Melinda in their midst. As the women spoke a mix of Mundari and Hindi and Melinda English,...
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