Sub inspector Bakhat Singh Thakur has set up a library — Vidyadan Pustakalay — at Brijpur Thana to promote education among children of nearby villages in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. The police station also regularly holds sports events and awareness drives. Thakur, a former teacher, believes providing education is a way to tackle crime and empower children to seek better futures.

Last month, on September 23, Gaon Connection published a story on how the Shakti app for women's safety was not working. Jharkhand Police took note of it and has fixed the app, which has started functioning from October 1. The app can now be downloaded from the state police’s website jhpolice.gov.in

Recently, a 16-year-old girl from Dumka, was set on fire by her stalker and killed. A couple of days later, a minor girl who was four months pregnant was found dead and hanging from a tree in Dumka. The Jharkhand Police had launched a mobile application Shakti to help women in distress, but the app is not functioning and few even know of its existence.

What happens after the last reporter goes away? In a series titled 'Twice Cursed', Gaon Connection revisits the families of the victims of rape, now forgotten. Despite the 'stringent' POCSO Act, the family of two minor girls, who were allegedly gangraped and murdered in 2014 in Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, are still awaiting justice.

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.

The internet has penetrated deep into the Indian hinterland and of the 646 million active internet users, 352 million are in its villages. Cyber criminals, many of whom are based in villages, are hacking into bank accounts and looting large sums of money. Law and the police machinery is unable to keep a check. Here is how you can protect yourself from cyber fraud.

A teacher in the government primary school, in Pargiyapada village, Rajasthan has found himself in the role of a saviour as he has swooped in and rescued 400 children in and around the area from the clutches of child traffickers.

Last year, the panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki turned murky when a minor daughter of a Dalit, who was contesting the polls, was allegedly gangraped. The survivor and her family complain that they continue to face threats from the accused who are free on bail. In a series titled 'Twice Cursed', Gaon Connection revisits families of the victims and survivors of rape, now forgotten.

Exactly two years back, on March 25, 2020, the nationwide lockdown came into force. Millions of migrant workers from rural India were stranded in cities without a place to stay, and with no food nor other means. Hundreds of thousands of them walked back home. Two years on, Gaon Connection caught up with these migrant workers and found their wounds haven't healed and their scars run deep.

Whether it's the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi, or the monuments devoted to political leaders in Lucknow, it is hard to ignore Mirzapur's contribution to the coveted pink sandstone. But the real cost is borne by the district's villagers who suffer diseases including tuberculosis, due to stone mining that has turned the region into a toxic dust bowl. A ground report.