Agriculture & Rural Development

Chandrapur district of Maharashtra is known for its coal mines. The district has 27 mines, which explains the moniker Black Gold City. Full of mineral and forest wealth, it is a tribal-dominated area where life is hard because of Naxalite insurgency. Health, education and employment were amiss. However, Chandrapur has been transformed in recent...

The Indian rural economy suffers from a severe lack of viable and sustainable livelihood opportunities. About 42% of the population of rural India depends on agriculture, which faces various challenges like seasonal fluctuation, weather dependence, knowledge deficit, poor market linkages, lack of wealth creation and resource crunch. In view of this agrarian plight and...

India is still considered to be an Agro-based economy, especially as the majority of its population (about 58 per cent) is engaged in agriculture. However, the contribution of the agriculture sector to the country’s GDP is less than 20 per cent. One of the reasons responsible for this huge gap is the lack of...

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it unprecedented crises on social, economic, and humanitarian levels. NGOs that were extensively working on various causes over the years stepped up to the forefront as both, responders and mobilisers during the pandemic. They have been directly supplementing the Government’s efforts to bring relief to the most susceptible communities...

DCM Shriram Ltd – Sugar Business today announced the successful conservation of 299 billion litres of water in the last two years under its flagship sustainable sugarcane cultivation initiative Meetha Sona certified by Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow. What is Meetha Sona? The company has been training farmers of Hardoi & Lakhimpur Kheri district on...

The State Government of Jharkhand has approved its first-ever CSR policy with a view to realise the overall development of its people, to create an enabling environment and to increase the total volume of CSR investments. With the help of this new Jharkhand CSR policy, the Government plans to create a conducive environment for attracting...

The Republic Day tractor rally protesting new anti-farmer laws rolled in to Red Fort and made history. Farmers are protesting new legislation that could leave them at the mercy of corporate sharks, and citizens are standing by them. After protesting Aarey deforestation and Citizenship Amendment Act vociferously last year, citizen groups are rallying together...

The annual Budget 2021 planning process is underway. Last year hit everyone like a tonne of bricks. Not only did the COVID-19 pandemic deal a crippling blow to the economy, it left millions jobless. A series of cyclones, locust outbreaks and floods led to further loss of life and property in 2020. Budget 2021 Corporate...

In line with PM Narendra Modi’s vision to increase the use of renewable energy, two CSR projects supported by Energy Maharatna Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) for the welfare of people in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh were launched by Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan on 18...

India has set its target to double the farmers' income by 2022 from its base year 2015. In order to achieve the target, the sector would need to display the growth of ten per cent each year from 2015. However, not for a single year have we been able to reach the target. In...

Working with communities in rural India has multiple approaches. It gives major learning to both, organizations and communities while implementing sustainable work on the ground. Currently, our large percentage of the rural population is struggling for basics like water, good health and sanitation, their family incomes and chances of getting new livelihood opportunities are meagre. Sustainability...

DBS Foundation announced that it has awarded close to SGD 1.4 million (Rs. 7.71 Cr) in grant funding to 13 social enterprises (SEs) across Asia in the 2020 cycle of its flagship DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant Programme. The grant recipients are from DBS' six key markets: India, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan. The...