01
The preserver of Indigenous breed of camels
Mr Genaram of the Raika community lives in Grandhi, a village in the Bikaner district of Rajasthan. He has around 200 indigenous Bikerneri camels of which 150 are female. He earns his income from milk and several products made from the fibre from camels. He also has 20 goats and 5 cows.
02
Millets to Millions
Rejuvenating the millet value chain through Government policies and support to bring millets on your plate, fulfilling the agenda of ‘Taking millets to Millions’
03
Introducing rain fed agricultural systems
Diversity is the one word that characterises the rainfed agricultural areas of India, spread over 77 million hectares of the country. Diversity of the cultures and cuisines of the indigenous communities that live there. Diversity of flora and fauna. Diversity of crops and cropping patterns. And diversity in topography, rainfall patterns and soils.
04
Amartiya, not a single bore-well
The villagers of Amartiya, in Nagaur district of Rajasthan, took a stand to ban bore-wells in their village despite despite some face off with the neighbouring village of Ladpura.
05
Hakdari, the common rights
The villagers of Rawach in Rajasthan fought to get back their rights to protect the common land and ensure water security. Mansaram, who led the fight, explains to us how the village got together and took back control over their commons.
06
Life by a hill
When all efforts to store and access water for farming failed the villagers of Balejipalli, Ananthpur district of Andhra Pradesh, they did not lose heart. Instead they decided to revegetate their nearby hill and make a living as pastoralists.
07
Invading the culture
The Nilgiris, the Tamil Nadu part of the Western Ghats, has been home to many tribal communities, Irulas, Todas, Kurumbas and Badagas. This story of the Toda community is about livelihood, land use pattern and the changes they now face due to the pressure from development, the market and of course the urban life.
08
Generations Lost
Fluorosis is caused by excessive consumption of fluoride, which damages the teeth and bones. While long-term intake of excessive doses might result in potentially serious bone and neurological issues. Fluoride affects 1108 habitations in Nalgonda alone, and around 62 million people, including 6 million children, suffer from fluorosis as a result of high fluoride ingestion through drinking water.
09
Lost Waters
Springs are the main source of water for about 200 million people in India. A majority of these people (80%) live in the Himalayan states, and the rest in the Eastern and Western Ghats. Springs feed streams and rivers and are critical to mountainous ecosystems. Across the country, we are witnessing a sharp decline in both the flow and quality of these once perennial and pristine sources of water. Experiences across the country show that a combination of scientific management and traditional knowledge is required to revive and manage springs.
10
M S Sathyu for Native Picture
M.S. Sathyu, a film and theatre luminary, speaks about the work Native Picture does.
11
Collected
Sustainable water management has reached a critical stage with the rising consumption of water by agriculture, industry, and domestic users. This has led to the depletion of water resources in the country, threatening the livelihoods of the rural people. The majority of families in rural areas are highly dependent on rainfed agriculture as their main livelihood source.
Myrada approached HUF and NABARD to take up the watershed development programme under the PPP (Public Private Participation) strategy in selected districts of Karnataka, of which Chitradurga district was one.
12
From the Brink
The HUF-Samuha project was built on the premise that it could help farmers in flood-irrigated paddy cultivation save up to 2 million litres of water per acre or crop. It has helped 488 farmers in 22 villages in the Deodurga taluk under the Upper Krishna command area cultivate NPM (non-pesticide management) paddy on 1300 acres. Two reference plots were used for conventional paddy and NPM paddy in 22 villages of Deodurga taluk to establish a baseline, which established an average water savings of 2.4 million litres per acre during the Kharif season. As a result, against the targeted saving of 2.4 billion litres, it helped farmers save 2.7 billion litres.
13
Sanjay Murmu, Jamui
Sanjay Murmu lives in a hamlet near Jamui in Bihar, which is in a highly forested area plagued by Naxals. He was forced to join them, which he bravely denied. He was a good football player until his schooling and had played at the block and district level during his school days. He completed matriculation but could not study further due to a lack of resources as his father was a daily wage labourer. After his schooling, he started to help his father support the family.
He had swelling on his right wrist; the doctor declared it bone cancer, and he lost his right hand. Then he joined the Plan project and gave all his effort to make the community child-friendly.
14
Bhagaban Mohanto, Kelaposi
As a child, Bhagaban Mohanto suffered a lot for his disability, like being unable to reach school in time, getting teased by schoolmates, and discrimination in school, but always found his elder sister standing beside him to protect him and encourage him to give his best in any of his endeavours. With this support, he completed his graduation with Political Science honours from Karanjia College in 1990 at the age of 20.
He got in touch with CYSD-Plan in a community-level orientation programme on Child Rights at Kelaposi village in 2009. He has taken an active role in the formation of village and GP-level Child Protection Committees (20 villages and 3 GPs) and the orientation of the committee members on different components of Child protection and their roles and responsibilities.