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“India Shining”, the slogan that lost the governing BJP party the election two and a half years ago, still has the ring of truth. The slogan may have backfired, igniting a backlash among India’s legions of poor who turned out at the polls in high numbers and put Congress back into power, but the fact is the Indian economy IS shining, or as the Hindustan Times puts it on a billboard, “India rocks”. There can be little doubt that with its 8.5% growth rate the country is on its way up.

“We feel more responsible today”, says a proud Andu bai. Andu bai is a tribal woman from Rawach, a village in the Udaipur  district of Rajasthan. She has never left the rocky and inaccessible borders of her village scattered along the Aravalli hills let alone did she go to the bank, know what it meant to save money or least of all make life-altering decisions.

A pioneering piece of legislation that recognises work as a fundamental right and guarantees 100 days of employment a year to people in rural areas is emerging as a ray of hope for India’s poor, who have been left even more vulnerable by the aftershocks of the global economic crisis.

Widespread environmental degradation in the north-eastern region of India is aggravating poverty and food security, and forcing rural people to exploit dwindling resources to meet subsistence requirements. An IFAD-supported project has introduced a new model for sustainable management of the resource base. Now communities care for the environment, and have learned to make use of natural resources to improve livelihoods and ensure that the land will continue to provide for future generations.

With the progress made in the past two decades, India’s acute and severe food shortages have become a thing of the past and the Government can turn its efforts towards long-term structural problems, such as the low social status of women. Despite their virtual lack of access to means of improving their incomes, women make an essential contribution to their families survival, especially among the poorer strata. In fact, rural women are estimated to be the sole family providers in 20-25% of homes, clearly a work force with economic potential.
 

In one of New Delhi's poorest communities, hunger is on the decline as a group of residents team up to produce their own food supplies with help from TeleFood.

Produced for the Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting at FAO in July 2003, 'The Pepper Trail' focuses on food safety issues in the cultivation, processing and export of black pepper in southern India, and the impact of internationally recognised food standards on the global spice trade.

India is one of the most populous countries in the world and rural people make up close to 75 percent of the population. They depend not only on agriculture but also on India's shrinking forest resources for employment and for the wood and non-wood forest products needed for food, fuel, and shelter.

Azheeckal, a fishing village in the southwestern state of Kerala, looks like a haunted place. Fallen trees, broken houses, and barren landscape all tell the story of the devastation that has recently visited this peaceful village. Silent men are fearful that another deadly wave will come and kill more people. Weeping women are overwhelmed with unbearable grief.

In Sitamarhi District, where Lalita lives, almost two-thirds of the population is living below the poverty line. Female literacy and girls' education have never been a high priority in the district. About 26 per cent of female residents are literate, which is only about half the corresponding percentage for males in the district; it is also far below the state and national level.

Narayni, Rasila, Shambhu, Mira and Lakshmi were taught to service and repair the India Mark II, an Indian-made handpump designed especially for the water challenges of the country. They check each pump every two weeks. Dressed in grey uniforms covering their brightly coloured saris, the women can be seen trudging through fields and brush to repair broken machinery. The team is called upon at least five or six times a month to get a pump up and running. They are paid a small salary for their efforts, adding up to about two full workdays a week.

“People used to laugh at us in the beginning,” said Shambhu. “They didn't think we could do what they said was a man's job.”

Chorchan Devi a traditional midwife living in the village of Choria and the only one in a five-mile radius recounts her experience during the floods.

Chorchan Devi was summoned for a delivery during the peak of the floods and there was no form of transport - not even a reed boat. The waters were up to her chest but she waded on to reach the next village.