Society, Culture and Peace

Enhancing socio-cultural well-being, ensuring justice and equity

Featured here are initiatives to enhance social and cultural aspects of human life: the revival and progressive use of visual, performing, and other arts, of the myriad crafts of the country, of threatened or submerged languages, of food and cuisine diversity, and other such cultural traits and processes. They also cover the various struggles and constructive movements to achieve social justice, to reduce inequalities and inequities of various kinds including caste, class, gender, ethnicity, and religion, and to create dignity in living for those currently oppressed and exploited. Finally, they include movements to generate ethical living and thinking, and spread values such as simplicity, honesty, frugality, and tolerance.

Sacred groves anchor traditional healing: study

A recent study documents medicinal plants used by Indigenous communities in West Sikkim in India, linking traditional healing to the conservation of sacred groves and monastery forests.

What if the Musi River could lead the development of Hyderabad?

If River Musi led Hyderabad’s planning, it would demand the restoration of the entire water network and integrating all aspects of the built environment with water spaces such as river banks, flood plains, and wetlands.

Khili Buransh: Crafting a democratic workspace, autonomy, agency, and identity

A group of women in Uttarakhand have crafted a space to build autonomy, agency and collective self-reliance. Khili Buransh challenges the capital-intensive, extractive, exploitative, patriarchal, casteist system prevailing in their part of society. 

Community rain monitoring helps disaster preparedness

Community-led rain and river monitoring fills critical gaps in official datasets, enabling early warnings and timely action. Integrating community-generated data into formal disaster management frameworks offers a scalable, democratic model for climate adaptation.

एक सहकारी संस्था का पुनर्जन्म (In Hindi)

ज़ुनफ़ा का पुनरुद्धार एक छोटे से सहकारी संगठन की कहानी है, जो कभी समय के साथ गुम हो गया था, और अब उसे नया जीवन मिल रहा है। यह समुदाय, पुनरुद्धार और मिलकर काम करने की शक्ति की कहानी है।

Art as a tool to enable resilience against tidal flooding

An art exhibition at the Kerala Museum has turned lived realities of tidal flooding into artistic evidence for action. The workshops held at the exhibition help build disaster preparedness among affected communities.

 A Gathering of Spinners Comes Full Circle

In Kachchh, Gujarat, a hundred elderly women and their granddaughters revive organic cotton spinning as they generate livelihoods.

A Cooperative Reborn

The Revival of Zunpha tells the story of how a small cooperative, once lost to time, is finding new life. A tale of community, revival, and the power of working together. 

The Jungle Kutir: A Community Initiative in Dengajhari, Odisha

The Jungle Kutir, established by the women of Dengajhari village in 2017, is a compelling example of how community institutions can preserve traditional ecological knowledge and conservation practices across generations.