Tips | Nature, wildlife and more

Gandhi believed that giving more importance, value and relevance to practical skills, and applying traditional knowledge to solving day-to-day problems were essential for the development of rural India. – Bunker Roy, the founder of Barefoot College, which helps rural communities becomes self-sufficient

Understanding the forest the way city kids understand traffic lights and zebra crossings – ActionAid’s schools team

Guest blogger Mari Marcel Thekaekara is a human rights activist and writer based in Gudalur, Tamil Nadu.  She co-founded ACCORD (Action for Community Organisation, Rehabilitation and Development) in 1985 to work with Adivasi people of Chembakolli, Tamil Nadu, southern India. “I was with the ACCORD team in 1988 when the Adivasi people from Chembakolli decided they … Read more

Jointly creating storybooks in familiar languages for first-generation learners: Suchana, Pratham Books and StoryWeaver – West Bengal

Books take tribal kids back to school Calcutta: Churki Hansda remembers standing on the road instead of going to school on most days of the week because she was too scared. “I wouldn’t understand anything. The lessons were all in Bengali and I knew only Santhali,” she said. Now 28, Churki translates stories from Bengali … Read more

“His significant legacy lives on”: Remembering Birsa Munda, the charismatic tribal leader who shook the British Empire – Jharkhand

Now fondly known as Mr Jharkhand, Munda died at the age of 25 more than a century ago, but his significant legacy lives on. […] A century after his death, Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on his birth anniversary on November 15, 2000, and he is today fondly referred to as “Mr Jharkhand.” […] … Read more

Tribal history covered in “India After Gandhi” by Ramachandra Guha

A tribute to Indian democracy capturing the pain and the struggle, the humiliations and the glories Review by KN Panikkar: “Democracy in practice”,  The Hindu, Tuesday, Jun 19, 2007 […] Guha is quite obviously an admirer of the achievements Indian democracy has attained in a largely hostile environment, vitiated by religious superstitions, caste prejudices and … Read more