Ground Tales

After studying the DNA from 3,000 rice accessions Researchers find a new possibility to improve rice productivity

In a new study, researchers from the Department of Biotechnology’s National Institute of Plant Genome Research (DBT-NIPGR), ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI), ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (ICAR-NRRI), Cuttack and University of Delhi South Campus (UDSC), have identified a region in the genome of rice, which seems to have the potential for improving productivity.

National Girl Child Day: On an average 16 girls were kidnapped & abducted in Madhya Pradesh each day

On an average 16 girls were kidnapped or abducted each day in Madhya Pradesh in the year 2018. This has been revealed in latest National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) report “Crime in India” -2018 released recently. According to the report, Madhya Pradesh registered third highest number of cases of kidnapping and abduction (K&A)of children among all states in the year. Total 7951 victims were recorded under the category of kidnapping and abduction where 72.53% victims were girls.

Shocking! Look who is behind the death due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome in Bihar

The outbreak of acute Encephalitis syndrome (AES) in Bihar this year, which claimed lives of more than 180 children, portrays the bad healthcare and infrastructure of Bihar government. A few months after the outbreak, a group of journalists and social workers came up with a survey, showing the real cause behind this outbreak. The survey released on November 13 at Muzaffarpur says that 96.5 percent of children who were affected from the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) belonged to underprivileged section and scheduled castes and tribes. The survey revealed that 97.8 percent of family of children affected from AES could not earn more than Rs. 10,000 a month. The mainstream media had criticized government hospitals for allegedly not providing proper health care, but the survey revealed that 92 per cent affected family appreciated the job of doctors and hospital staff. Pushya Mitra, a senior journalist and one of the prominent persons behind this survey tells us more about the findings of survey. Please Subscribe and share this podcast.

Ground Tales: A tale of malnutrition-free village

Madhya Pradesh is ranked amongst few of the worst states of India in terms of nutrition and infant mortality rate. But there are some great initiatives taking place in small villages to overcome these issues that are worth sharing. Kotagunjapur, a village inside Panna Tiger Reserve has conquered malnutrition with kitchen gardens. The village that does not have access to roads and electricity has now attained freedom from malnutrition, something that even bigger villages and cities have been unable to achieve. Villagers realized that they are extremely poor and cannot afford dear vegetables from the market because of which their kids and women were not getting proper nutrition, leading to increase in malnutrition. Some social workers helped them develope kitchen-gardens in every household where they could grow iron and vitamin-rich vegetables and herbs. In a period of four years, the condition improved drastically. The villagers started getting fresh vegetables every day and that showed a positive impact on their health. The story about zero malnutrition villages is still untold. Ground Tales spoke to the social workers and the residents of Kotagunjapur to know more about the model and the struggle to make the initiative popular amongst villagers. We also interacted with activists behind this initiative who played a pivotal role in popularising the kitchen- garden concept to tackle the problem of malnutrition with a zero-budget plan. Listen to our podcast at http://www.groundtales.com