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The Handwashing Initiative: selling soap or saving lives? The World Bank's Handwashing Initiative is based on the conviction that the simple practice of washing hands with soap could reduce deaths from diarrhoea by half. But its intentions are being questioned in Kerala, where people say they need safe drinking water, not multinational soap More... Baluben and Monghiben take chargeWith guidance from the NGO Utthan, women from traditional, feudal households in Saurashtra, Gujarat, are taking charge -- promoting water harvesting, ousting moneylenders and insisting that development projects provide employment to local villagers More... Friends of MelghatAn estimated 5,000 tribal children died of malnutrition in Melghat, Maharashtra, between 1992-97. Since 1997, a group of volunteers has been working with the Korkus in this remote forest region, helping educate them about nutrition, sanitation and preventive health care More... Have cycle, will studySometimes solutions to problems as grave as female illiteracy can be so simple. Providing a humble bicycle to girls in Maharashtra's villages has allowed students who would normally drop out after Class VIII to go on to finish high school. The project has been initiated by Ashta No Kai (ANK), Pune More... Enabling airwavesIt's been a long time coming, but India's first radio programme for the disabled is finally being broadcast every week from All India Radio Madras. If the response is anything to go by, this could be the beginning of a revolution for India's 70 million disabled More... Rainwater harvesting in BangaloreWith groundwater levels fast depleting, rooftop rainwater harvesting makes sound ecological and financial sense. Bangalore seems to have taken the lead in this form of water harvesting and has even set up a special Rainwater Club More... Mercury emissions in India: A tragedy in the making?The caustic-chlorine industry in India releases a staggering 60-70 tonnes of mercury every year into our environment. This figure is 75 times the amount of mercury that triggered the Minamata tragedy More... Indian-language computing: The long road aheadIf government-to-citizen initiatives are to succeed, Indian local language computing is a must. But with almost three dozen major languages and hundreds of dialects, the task is complex. Some headway is being made however, with the debut of a 'total Tamil' computer More... Summer of '99: The turning-point for Bastar's tribalsWith help from the district administration Bastar's tribals have eliminated the middlemen and taken direct control of trade in minor forest produce. The change in their villages since the Imli Andolan of 1999 is perceptible More... To privatise, or not to privatise, waterWatershed management expert Vijay Paranjpye sorts out the tangle over water privatisation, and insists that privatisation of public utilities can be resorted to only if the government completely fails to manage the utility, and if private management is going to make the utility cheaper for the people More... The barber's wife: Sex advisor to child bridesIn the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh, where no family planning campaign has ever penetrated, it is the Naun or barber's wife who accompanies child brides to their husbands' homes at puberty and advises them on family planning and family welfare. This traditional practice does not seem likely to change in the foreseeable future More... Living through the great droughtYana Bey travels through the poverty-stricken Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput region of Orissa, meeting villagers with long memories of hard times and starvation More... |
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