Society, Culture and Peace

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

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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.

Zero-Waste Community Emerges out of Grassroots Movements

A small-town anti-incinerator effort in Kerala grows into a statewide zero-waste program.

Disposable pads, disposable lives

Do I, a woman, who disposes non-degradable sanitary napkins directly affect public health? Yes, I do! Find out how and take a pledge to solve the problem.

The Sacred grove in Verkadavu

The story provided in the link has been written by a young adivasi boy, Dhanesh Kumar, from the Kattunayakan community. The story records observations on sacred groves of Paniya community in the Gudalur Valley.

From the Economics of Happiness conference

"Vikalp Sangam bahut achchha idea hai, iske saath Sankalp bhi jod deejiye"/ "Alternatives Confluence is a great idea, add Commitment to it"

Weaving a revolution, one piece at a time

The malkha process explores an alternative to the present situation where both farmers and weavers are dependent on spinning mills, a way in which both farmers and weavers could benefit from each other, and in which spinning could also become a rural occupation. It is the missing link in a fully rural cotton textile industry using local raw material and local skills. Not only would it create more employment, the links between farming and local production would strengthen rural society both socially and politically.

Communitisation of Education in Nagaland

Nagaland state's legal move to decentralise a part of the governance of education, health and power has had interesting results

The key to the handloom crisis

By placing all components of textile production in the hands of weavers and artisans, the Malkha intervention seeks to make them autonomous owners of their means of livelihood.

Adivasi Academy, Gujarat: Rescuing cultures of India, one word at a time

India boasts of a huge variety of languages and dialects. Many of these languages do not have scripts of their own. In fact many of them are on the brink of fading away into oblivion owing to the trend of people migrating to modern cities and hence newer cultures. However, a small academy in Gujarat is standing tall to save these languages from dying. Anand Giridharadas writes in this article on how the Adivasi Academy, based in Tejgadh, Gujarat, is working towards chronicling elements of rural culture.

A Journey to the Sacred Forest of Sariska

A Londoner describes her experience of the worldview of a community that lives in a remote part of Rajasthan without modern comforts, and what she learned from them. Such as that to bring about change all stakeholders have to see each other as equals, and that Trust between all stake-holders is essential, especially between those who have very opposing views.