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Society, Culture, Religion and History
Renovation insulates pond from its devotees
Posted on 20 May, 2015 07:08 PMI was in Rasina, my ancestral village. It was a solemn occasion - the death of my eldest paternal uncle, and it was only the second death in our extended family after almost 18 years of my grandfather’s passing. A lot has changed in the village over time thanks to its premier location on the busy Karnal-Kaithal highway.
![Children look for water snakes in the pond](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/dsc04691.jpg?itok=2NBv75Hm)
Swasth Seema: A village's journey towards ODF status
Posted on 20 May, 2015 12:55 PMNot unlike most villages that make up rural India, Seema in Rajgir block of Nalanda district showed little interest in structured sanitation. Open defecation was rampant and a sizeable chunk of the village’s earnings was spent on tending to the ill and diseased. Little did the villagers know that a change in tradition was imminent.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/GSF-Seema-Toilets.png?itok=HKsghtuJ)
Abandoned dams; abandoned people
Posted on 19 May, 2015 04:07 PMKanhar, 1976; Polavaram 1941. These are just two of the several dam projects that were proposed decades ago but are yet to see the light of day.
![We don't want dams, dams destroy mountains' reads a slogan painted on a wall in Uttarakhand (Image Source: GJ Lingaraj)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/a_protest_message_against_tehri_dam_garhwal_uttarakhand_0.jpg?itok=CsRwA_18)
India readies for a poor monsoon due to strong possibility of El Nino
Posted on 18 May, 2015 08:59 PMIndia prepares to fight the impacts of El Nino
![IMD predicts strong El Nino (Source: MSN Weather)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/8b6194db8b950dfdc5b48d52fc67_0.jpg?itok=Ns-40A6R)
Kanhar: To be or not to be?
Posted on 17 May, 2015 07:20 AMThe last month has been one of great activity around the illegal construction of the Kanhar dam in Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.
![A destroyed tent after the lathi charge](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/17076987939_54e7db1d00_b.jpg?itok=aczkSHM9)
Women assert their space under the sun
Posted on 05 May, 2015 02:12 PMWhen Satya was asked by the Sarpanch to opt for the position of a worksite supervisor as a Mate, she was thrilled at the prospect of a better life. Brought up in Murayur village in Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu, she knew how tough agricultural wage labour work was. While her mother left her with grandparents, her father also took on menial jobs and errands from big farmers.
![Satya’s position as a supervisor is valued by all](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/satya_at_work.jpg?itok=3CEFiBkF)
Water and facilities flow better into cities
Posted on 05 May, 2015 01:35 PMSixty eight percent of India's population lives in rural areas but when it comes to facilities -- including the availability of safe drinking water -- cities and towns corner most of them.
![Rural-Urban Drinking Water Supply Gap, Census 2011](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/census_2011_drinking_water_sources_graph-1a.jpg?itok=qRgz4Zza)
SC denies land to Coca-Cola in Chharba, Uttarakhand
Posted on 05 May, 2015 11:30 AMAfter Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand also bids goodbye to Coca Cola
![The scrubland that the Coca Cola company requires](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/9460874257_abfe0465bc_z.jpg?itok=FFUI0_fk)
Don't forget this Ambedkar Jayanti
Posted on 04 May, 2015 06:40 PMIf Babasaheb Ambedkar had been alive today -- April 14, 2015 -- he would have been 125 years old. In the predominantly tribal and dalit district of Sonbhadra, it was natural that Gambhira Prasad, President of the Kanhar Bandh Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti (KBVSS), decided to mark the day.
![The women of Sundari village protest](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/sundari_protest.jpg?itok=Gf3ENXgh)
Niyamagiri hills get temporary respite from Vedanta
Posted on 03 May, 2015 07:09 PMThe Niyamagiri hills in the Eastern Ghats is peopled by indigenous groups such as the Dongria and Kutia Kondhs -- or 'primitive tribal groups’ in official phrasing. For them, these hills which spread over 300 sq kms in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts in southwestern Orissa, is the sacred abode of Niyamraja, their God.
![The hills and the streams are their soul](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/the_hills_and_the_streams_are_our_soul.jpg?itok=DQltjIYM)