The State of Rural India Report: Nidhi Jamwal Pankaja Srinivasan Subha J Rao (Proof Reading) Rashika Desai (Intern)
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THE TEAM Neelesh Misra Founder Gaon Connection Gaon Connection Insights Writing and Editing of The State of Rural India Report: Nidhi Jamwal Pankaja Srinivasan Subha J Rao (Proof reading) Rashika Desai (Intern) Visual Conceptualisation and Graphic Design Anuj Mishra | Faraz Husain Contributors Anand Kumar, Arvind Shukla, Azera Parveen Rahman, Daya Sagar, Deepanwita Gita Niyogi, Divendra Singh, Kushal Mishra, Megha Prakash, Mithilesh Dhar Dubey, Mohd Arif, Neetu Singh, Nidhi Jamwal, Pankaja Srinivasan, Pratyush Deep Kotoky, Purnima Sah, Rafiqul Islam Montu, Raja Muzaar Bhat, Rohin Kumar, Rituparna Palit, Sachin Tulsa Tripathi, Saurabh Chauhan, Shailaja Tripathi, Shivani Gupta, Srishti Lakhotia, Umesh Kumar Ray, Virendra Singh, Vivek Gupta *Gaon Connection and Gaon Connection Insights are part of The Slow Movement. I N S I G H T S INDIA’S BIGGEST RURAL INSIGHTS PLATFORM CONTENT TITLE PAGE NO. PREFACE BY NEELESH MISRA 1 CHAPTER 1: HEALTH 2 - 5 STORY 1: LABOUR PAINS IN THE PANDEMIC 6 - 8 STORY 2: ROOTING FOR THE MIDWIVES 9 - 11 STORY 3: SPREADING HOPE: ASHA, THE CORONA WARRIORS 12 - 14 STORY 4: PANDEMIC WOES IN THE NORTH EASTERN STATES 15 - 17 CHAPTER 2: AGRICULTURE 18 - 21 STORY 1: THE MARCH OF THE FARMERS 22 - 24 STORY 2: RICE RACKET 25 - 27 STORY 3: GRAIN DRAIN 28 - 30 STORY 4: SWARM HARM 31 - 33 CHAPTER 3: WATER 34 - 36 STORY 1: REVIVING RIVERS AND LIVELIHOODS IN CHHATTISGARH 37 - 39 STORY 2: SLUGGISH FLOWS THE BHARALU 40 - 43 STORY 3: THE BLOODY WORLD OF INDIA'S ILLEGAL SAND MINING 44 - 47 CHAPTER 4: FORESTS AND WILDLIFE 48 - 51 STORY 1: LOSING GROUND AT THE KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK 52 - 54 STORY 2: A TIGER BY THE TAIL 55 - 57 STORY 3: IS MADHYA PRADESH BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE? 58 - 60 STORY 4: A 600-YEAR-OLD TEMPLE GROVE IN RAJASTHAN MAY SOON DISAPPEAR 61 - 63 CHAPTER 5: ADIVASIS 64 - 66 STORY 1: THE CHOPAN SHEPHERDS: LEFT OUT IN THE COLD 67 - 69 STORY 2: TRIBAL WOMEN IN MAHARASHTRA: LEAD BY 'EGGSAMPLE' 70 - 72 STORY 3: TRIBAL COMMUNITIES MOST VULNERABLE TO LAND CONFLICTS 73 - 75 STORY 4: THE NEW GENERATION SANTHALIS NOW SHOOT WITH A CAMERA 76 - 78 I N S I G H T S INDIA’S BIGGEST RURAL INSIGHTS PLATFORM CONTENT TITLE PAGE NO. CHAPTER 6: LIVELIHOODS 79 - 81 STORY 1: A DEBT, UNPAID, FOR GENERATIONS 81 - 83 STORY 2: IN DEEP WATERS 84 - 86 STORY 3: A BED OF THORNS 87 - 89 STORY 4: THE TOYMAKERS OF VARANASI 90 - 92 STORY 5: YARN INTERRUPTED 93 - 95 CHAPTER 7: GENDER MATTERS 96 - 99 STORY 1: NOT A JOB FOR A WOMAN 100 - 102 STORY 2: TO FETCH A PAIL OF WATER: WATER WOES OF 2020 103 - 106 STORY 3: 119 CHILD MARRIAGES BETWEEN MARCH AND AUGUST 2020 IN COOCH BEHAR, WEST BENGAL 107 - 110 STORY 4: KAUR COMPETENCY: WOMEN IN RURAL PUNJAB WATCH OVER HOME AND HEARTH AS THEIR MENFOLK ARE OUT FIGHTING 111 - 114 CHAPTER 8: CLIMATE CHANGE 115 - 118 STORY 1: MERCURY RISING 119 - 122 STORY 2: THE CLIMATE REFUGEES OF BANGLADESH 123 - 125 STORY 3: THE ANATOMY OF SUPERCYCLONE AMPHAN 126 - 128 STORY 4: BRAVING THE STORM: TWO ODISHA VILLAGES GET 'TSUNAMI-READY' 129 - 131 CHAPTER 9: DISASTERS 132 - 134 STORY 1: THE ASSAM BAGHJAN OIL WELL FIRE - A BURNING ISSUE 135 - 138 STORY 2: WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES 139 - 142 STORY 3: SWAMPED BY THE SARYU 143 - 145 CHAPTER 10: EDUCATION AND YOUTH 146 - 149 STORY 1: COVID-19 AND THE TRAFFICKED CHILD 150 - 153 STORY 2: UTTARAKHAND UNCONNECTED: LEARNING TAKES A BEATING 154 - 157 I N S I G H T S INDIA’S BIGGEST RURAL INSIGHTS PLATFORM CONTENT TITLE PAGE NO. STORY 3: EXPERIMENTS IN EDUCATION 158 - 161 STORY 4: DISADVANTAGE CORONA WARRIORS 162 - 164 CHAPTER 11: ART AND CULTURE 165 - 167 STORY 1: OF GODS, GODDESSES AND NATURE 168 - 170 STORY 2: WHEN GULABO AND SITABO STOPPED TALKING AND THE SHENAIS FELL SILENT 171 - 173 STORY 3: PHAD AND THE PANDEMIC 174 - 177 STORY 4: HANGING BY A THREAD 178 - 181 CHAPTER 12: AGENTS OF CHANGE 182 - 184 STORY 1: GREEN DREAMS: A HEADMASTER REVIVES HIS SCHOOL CAMPUS 185 - 186 STORY 2: CHANGEMAKERS OF GONDA 187 - 189 STORY 3: A WALK THROUGH THE VANAMS OF COIMBATORE 190 - 193 STORY 4: STORIES THAT COMMEMORATE WOMEN'S DAY 194 - 198 OTHER GAON CONNECTION INSIGHTS SURVEYS 199 PREFACE Rural India feeds the nation, it drives the economy and decides who will rule the country. Two out of every three Indians live in rural India yet, rural India does not get its say in the way the country will function and run. Gaon Connection combines the strength of its ground presence in 314 districts across 25 states and 5 union territories with the reach of digital footprints, which is creating tangible results. We are happy to take this effort to the next level with the launch of the annual rural report. We are confident that this report, The State of Rural India: Report 2020, would help the state and national level authorities see the rural landscape with a wider spectrum and help in planning and implementation of suitable solutions. Do read more insights at www.ruraldata.in Neelesh Misra Founder Gaon Connection Gaon Connection Insights I N S I G H T S INDIA’S BIGGEST RURAL INSIGHTS PLATFORM CHAPTER 1 The COVID-19 pandemic threw the health systems of the country completely off kelter. It restricted access and availability of healthcare parcularly in rural areas where hospitals are located at distances from the villages. Various immunisaon schedules, emergency treatment of other diseases, access to hospitals, maternal and mental healthcare were curtailed to a significant extent. The large number of migrant workers returning home added addional strain on rural healthcare. As of December 27, 2020, India has recorded 10.2 million cases of COVID-19, 9.76 million recoveries, and 147,622 deaths. Overworked healthcare personnel organised strikes and protests to draw aenon to their various grievances. In Chhasgarh, for instance, contractual employees of the Naonal Health Mission (NHM) went on strike in September to demand that their service be regularized. On December 11, a million doctors went on a strike to protest against a new government rule that would allow praconers of Ayurveda to conduct surgical procedures, as they believed that this would lead to increased risks and would downplay the medical profession. NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY - 5 The first phase findings of the Naonal Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) conducted in 2019-20 were released on December 12 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. According to this survey, India's populaon is stabilizing since the total ferlity rate (TFR) (number of children who would be born per woman) has become an average of 2.1 in most of the states surveyed. Sikkim recorded the lowest TFR of 1.1 in 2019-20 as compared to 1.2 in 2015-16, while Bihar that had the highest TFR in 2019-20 of 3 sll marked a decline from 3.4 in 2015-16. In 17 states, family planning using modern contracepves has increased, along with an improvement in menstrual hygiene. The infant mortality rate (IMR) (number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age per 1000 live births in a given year) has decreased in 18 states and union territories, while the neonatal mortality rate (NMR) (number of deaths of infants under 28 days of age per 1000 live births in a given year) also reduced in 15 states and union territories. For instance, Kerala reported the lowest NMR of 3.4 in 2019-20 as compared to 4.4 in 2015-16, Sikkim showed an NMR of 5 in 2019-20 as compared to 20.8 in 2015-16, while Bihar had the highest NMR of www.ruraldata.in 03 HEALTH I N S I G H T S INDIA’S BIGGEST RURAL INSIGHTS PLATFORM 34.5 in 2019-20 but also reduced from 36.7 in 2015-16. Similarly, Kerala had the lowest IMR of 4.4 as compared to 5.6 in 2015-16 while Bihar had the highest IMR of 46.8 as compared to 48.1 in 2015-16. However, 16 states recorded an increase in malnutrion in children under five years of age. For instance, the percentage of children with low weight for their height increased from 20.8 in 2015-16 to 22.9 in 2019-20 in Bihar, and from 13.7 to 17.4 in Himachal Pradesh. It must be noted that the data of this phase of the survey was recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH The lockdown in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic affected access to reproducve services despite the government declaring RMNCAH+N (Reproducve, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health Plus Nutrion) services as essenal during the lockdown. Due to lack of access and availability of these services, an esmate by the Foundaon for Reproducve Health Services, India (FRISHI) suggested that nearly 26 million couples will not be able to access contracepves in India, which could lead to 2.3 million unintended pregnancies and 800,000 unsafe aborons. Medical workers also reported an increase in sllbirths as rural health services were hard-pressed due to pandemic services. Nutrion units like the anganwadi centres which provide health checkups, medicines, child and maternal healthcare and counselling, and food raons were also shut down for months and only reopened on an irregular basis in July. Addionally, access to menstrual products such as sanitary pads was also hit in the inial months of the lockdown. IMPACT ON NUTRITION According to a study published by the Global Health Science Journal in July 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to contribute to a food shock that will increase the chances of malnourished and underweight children in India by 4 million.