-The Hindu Women brave arduous journeys to reach hospitals. BHUBANESWAR: After walking down two hills, taking a boat across a huge reservoir and then finally travelling 30 km on bumpy country roads in a rickety autorickshaw, the actual process of giving birth was not difficult at all for 35-year-old Kusum Nayak. The labour pains pale into insignificance for the pregnant women of 16 largely tribal villages under the N. Podapadar panchayat in Odisha’s...

-Hindustan Times Expanding better opportunities with decent wages for frontline workers could also contribute to the revival of the rural economy by putting wages into the hands of many, and take us closer to achieving our health and nutrition goals The unsung heroes of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic have most definitely been the millions of frontline women workers, especially Accredited Social Health Activists (Ashas) who have been working tirelessly at...

-Down to Earth These communities have suffered on most social indicators due to a mix of poor logistics as well as prejudice and ostracisation   Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi households and neighbourhoods have suffered terribly in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the months following the declaration of the countrywide lockdown, data collected by a group of civil society organisations has showed. These communities were not able to avail...

-Down to Earth A significant number of beneficiaries of the scheme are women and from backward community. Balod, Dhamtari, Durg, Raipur and Rajnadgaon districts have taken the lead in implementation The new Godhan Nyay scheme by the Chhattisgarh government — advertised as revolutionary — was launched July 2020 in the backdrop of the state’s flagship ‘Naruva-Garuva-Ghuruva-Badi’ programme. Naruva means a seasonal or perennial stream, garuva means animal husbandry, ghuruva means composting and badi...

-The Hindu True self-reliance won’t come from relentless industrialisation, but from localisation and decentralisation, as demonstrated by these remarkable stories of empowered rural communities Not so long ago, Dalit women farmers in Telangana used to face hunger and deprivation. Today, they have contributed foodgrains for pandemic relief. Farmers on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border have been sending organic produce to Bengaluru even during the lockdown. And Adivasi villages in central India are using...