India is home to the highest numbers of child brides in the world. Of these, 36 million child brides, such as 12-year-old Chimki, are from the state of Uttar Pradesh alone. Despite stringent laws, and promises of women empowerment, young girls continue to be pushed into child marriage. And the pandemic is making matters worse. A ground report from Shravasti district — home to the most child brides in UP.

Domestic violence is one of the most serious forms of violation of rights affecting women. Every third woman in Uttar Pradesh faces spousal violence. A recent report assesses the effectiveness of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 in the state. It also documents the gaps and challenges in the implementation of the Act.

As a fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lives of poor women and children in Karnataka were adversely affected. Many of the families lost access to education following a loss of livelihood. An NGO is aiding such single-woman headed families to recover from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. Details here.

In rural India, even today, superstitions are steeped deep. The disease symptoms of many children are taken to be a foul act of fantastical spirits or hexes and treated by the brutal burning of their body parts. The victims of such malpractices are rendered handicapped for the rest of their lives

A cadre of Banking Sakhi, Samuh Sakhis, Agricultural Livelihood Sakhis, Health Sakhi, and Vidyut Sakhi will be trained to become master trainers in self-defence.

This all-girls band is quite unique in its use of kitchen equipment to create music. Chimta, belan, thali and oakhli all are used as musical equipment without the frills of a conventional musical instrument or a vocalist. Still their music leaves its listeners hooked. What's more, with the sole medium of its songs, this band seeks to fulfill its social obligation by spreading the awareness

Bihar is India’s most flood-prone state and recurring floods, apart from displacing millions every year, also contribute to human trafficking as poor families spend several months in flood relief camps from where their children are lured into ‘jobs’. Gaon Connection met several such children and here is what they told us.

Yesterday, two minor Dalit sisters were raped and killed. Their bodies were found hanging from a khair tree in a sugarcane field in their village in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. A heinous crime that is distressingly frequent in rural India. Meanwhile, the conviction rate under POSCO Act is only about 40 per cent. And, a significant chunk of the Nirbhaya funds remain unutilised by the state governments.

It's been more than two years since children in Uttar Pradesh's anganwadis have been served hot cooked meals, though most other states have resumed them, post pandemic. But India's most populous state, with a high burden of malnutrition, continues to distribute dry rations. The state government has given an assurance that hot meals will be resumed from January 2023.