In many rural parts of India, women’s potential often remains untapped not because of lack of ability, but due to limited opportunities and societal expectations. However, when the right platforms are created, powerful transformations begin to unfold. These are not just stories of employment, but of courage, self-belief, and leadership. Breaking Barriers: Yuvana Sundhari’s Journey […]
Can your small piece of land become a Kalpataru plot? We discuss the answers in the third part of this series today. How much land: If you do not want to depend at least on the market for vegetables, then 15 po decimals of land is enough. Even with 6 to10 decimals, this Kalpataru model […]
In the hills of Uttarakhand, festivals are not just occasions marked on a calendar; they are lived experiences, deeply rooted in nature, memorya nd community life. One such festival that captures this essence beautifully is Khatarua, celebrated across the Kumaon region with warmth, energy, and a strong sense of togetherness. Khatarua is observed in mid-September, […]
The discussion around cooking oil in India has been growing rapidly, especially when it comes to traditional oils like groundnut oil. If we look at the basic economics, one kilogram of groundnuts currently costs around ₹200. From that, we only get about 300–350 ml of oil through normal extraction. This means that to produce one […]
Seeds of Change in the Mountains
When I first started visiting the project villages for surveys, I did not expect the experience to change my perspective so deeply. I went there to collect data and understand ground realities. What I found was far more powerful than numbers on a sheet. In the mountain regions, almost every woman is engaged in farming. […]
There’s a reel I keep coming back to. A woman, speaking plainly, no dramatic background music, no fancy cuts – just her, sitting somewhere ordinary, saying something that refuses to leave my head: “We spend half our lives waiting for fairness. We complain about the cards we were dealt, our background, who betrayed us, what […]
When people speak about climate change, the conversation often revolves around global temperature rise, melting glaciers, or rising sea levels. Those are indeed important, no doubt; But working in the hills of Uttarakhand shifts you from that wide-eyed perspective towards realities more grounded. Here, climate change is not an abstract concept discussed in reports and […]
I read Tuesdays with Morrie on a cold January night, wrapped in a blanket, sitting in the same room where I’d been working fifteen-hour days for the past two weeks. I wasn’t planning to read it. I picked it up almost by accident – someone had left it on the table, and I just needed […]
A Fun Day Out with Colleagues
There are some days that don’t go according to plan, and turn out to be the best ones. A while back, a group of us from work decided to head out to a forest area near a river. No fancy arrangements, no itinerary. Just a plan to cook there, eat together, and see how the […]
Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are transforming Indian agriculture by empowering farmers to move from being price takers to price makers. With this vision in mind, I, Somusekhar, had the opportunity to visit Sahyadri Farms for an exposure visit aimed at strengthening the development of our FPO. The experience was not just a learning journey.it was […]
