Sualkuchi is the home of expert Assamese (people from the state of Assam, North East India) weavers. Many families can trace their weaving tradition back to thousands of years. Even today, almost every household has a working loom. These weavers are highly skilled and extremely passionate about their inherited indigenous…
Continue ReadingCategory: Communities
Sustainable Development by Villagers
A very obscure village in the foothills of Melghat region of Amravati district in Maharashtra (West India), Payvihir, has set an example for the country by consistently showing how communities and NGOs (non government organizations) can work together to conserve the environment and ensure sustainable livelihood for people. Recently, the…
Continue ReadingCommunity Action Helped Revive 200 Acres of Deforested Land
From establishing a seed bank, to building and maintaing ponds, the many steps that helped revive the deforested Orans in Rajasthan. All across the world, communities come together to combat a range of issues, ranging from epidemics to violence, and from education to environment. A unique understanding of historical, cultural…
Continue ReadingTransforming the lives of Tribal Women through Lac
Socially excluded households from rural areas have very limited opportunities to improve their livelihoods. They are inhibited by their socio-economic status, their small and underproductive landholdings as well as the pronounced lack of systems that permit access to inputs, credit or market services. Livelihood interventions for Socially Excluded Groups (SEGs)…
Continue ReadingPracticing the Age Old Vedic Concepts of Sustainable Development
Civilizations have changed, Emperors have gone, new era has been herald and in this wave of massive transformation, the pastoral community of Rajasthan (locally called Raika) still believe in old practices of livelihood inspired by the Vedic concept of sustainable development. They are specialized in camel breeding. They take pride…
Continue ReadingSolve the Age-Old Problems by Making Innovative Cookstoves
Vidya Rattan Sharma, a familiar name in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh, started his life journey as a cook. He worked with Sutra NGO, then Social Work Research Centre (SWRC), for 5 years while cooking meals for their employees in Rajasthan. His concern as well as love for making innovative…
Continue ReadingKitchen Kinetics: Cooking Together in Shekhawati
The ‘Sanjha Chulha’ (community kitchen) has been rekindled in the villages of the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, albeit with a small modification. Keeping up with the changing times, instead of the earthen oven, it is the Sanjha gas that the Shekhawati women are sharing today. There are many advantages of…
Continue ReadingThis Rajasthan Village is Helping Themselves by Helping the Environment
Lapodiya, a village of 200 households in Rajasthan, is a shining example of how environment governance at the grassroots level can save a village from natural disasters. Here, people have adopted innovative water conservation practices and a culture which they have improvised and perfected over three decades. As a result,…
Continue Reading