The benefits of decentralised midday meal kitchens, where noon meals are freshly cooked at the school premises, go far beyond the health benefits for students. These kitchens can be a game changer for rural women as I learnt from Manu Naik, a widow and a mother of two.

Women from the villages near the mangroves of the Sundarbans brave crocodiles, snakes and even tigers to collect wild tiger prawn seedlings, which fetch them Rs 100 a day. Their menfolk have migrated to other states.

The 250-page free-to-download e-book is a collection of stories of extraordinary courage, grit and determination of village women who stood up to the pandemic.

In a world of Instagram reels and YouTube shorts, where things don’t require more than a few minutes of attention, Gaon Connection has launched a free-to-download magazine in Hindi and English to connect the worlds of rural and urban children.

Tari village faced acute water shortage in the summer season affecting farming activities. Water-borne diseases were widespread. Its women decided to clean up the village pond, and now the village has sufficient water for drinking and farming purposes.