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Development Alternatives

Tourism for the Himalayas: Communities Protecting Nature, Culture, and Livelihoods

Eco-tourism has emerged as a global phenomenon where experiential tourism and local hospitality, combined with local cuisine and traditional crafts and music, hold the travel economy together. The growing desire to live and travel sustainably has become the hallmark of young and experienced travellers worldwide. The urge to explore the …

The Non-Farm Imperative: Rural Women Entrepreneurs and the 2030 Jobs Mission

India is witnessing a gradual yet critical shift in its rural employment landscape. For generations, agriculture has shaped not just livelihoods, but the very identity of rural communities. Today, that identity is expanding. Across villages, people are looking beyond farming, aspiring for enterprises and occupations that can provide stability, dignity, …

The Mighty Himalayas: Mountain, People, Nature, and Climate

The Himalayas, also known as the third pole, is integral to the region’s climate, people, and nature nexus, influencing the lives of millions living here and downstream. However, with the passage of time, climate change is disrupting this intricate balance—impacting glaciers, altering water availability, threatening agriculture and biodiversity, and eroding …

Creating Climate Resilient Rural Communities

As climate change accelerates, the vulnerabilities of rural communities across India are no longer hidden — they are starkly visible in depleting water sources, and declining soil health. These changes have disrupted the rhythms of life in our villages in ways both immediate and profound. The weather shifts have affected …

From China to India: VSBK’s Low-Carbon Leap

The story of the adaptation(s) of the VSBK technology and brick production processes in India is an example of collaboration among a range of partners coming from varied backgrounds, experience, expertise and skill sets, across formal and informal sectors, from artisans to technical experts and public sector agencies. This was …

The Paradigm of Technology: Innovate or Incubate

India is home to some of the earliest and greatest inventions in the world, which started and flourished under the Indus Valley Civilisation. Among the greatest innovations were the technologies for producing pottery and burnt building materials in Mohenjo-Daro, efficient water harvesting and conservation systems in Dholavira, and other tools …