Ground Report

1 week ago | groundreport.in | Wahid Bhat

Every morning at 7:30, when Ashapuri High School—30 kilometers from Bhopal— starts its day, 15-year-old Deeksha Chaudhary arrives on foot. She sets out early from her home in Rasalpur village, 3 kilometers away. A bicycle, provided under a government scheme, leans rusting and unused at home. The path she takes is familiar but never easy—especially under the harsh April sun. She studies in class 10. In the heat, the concrete classrooms feel like ovens.

2 weeks ago | groundreport.in | Pallav Jain

In the 1990s, India's vulture population faced a catastrophic decline, bringing these majestic scavengers to the brink of extinction. Today, Madhya Pradesh boasts over 12,000 vultures—the highest count nationwide—thanks to dedicated conservation efforts championing their ecological importance. Nitish Agrawal, co-founder of 'The Last Vulture' in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, is at the forefront of this revival.

2 weeks ago | groundreport.in | Sanavver Shafi

The grasslands of Kharmor Sanctuary of Sardarpur tehsil of Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh once echoed with the dance of the Kharmor bird (Sypheotides indicus). The high jump of the male bird and the display of colourful feathers were a miracle of nature. In 1983, Sardarpur Sanctuary was created in ​​34812.177 hectares of government and private land to conserve the endangered Lesser Florican birds in their favourite habitat– dry grasslands.

3 weeks ago | groundreport.in | Wahid Bhat

The air in Madhya Pradesh is thick with smoke from burning fields. In districts like Vidisha, Hoshangabad, Ujjain, and Indore, farmers are setting fire to their crop residue to clear land for the next harvest. This year, the state recorded 17,534 stubble-burning incidents, with Indore ranking fifth in the state, according to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS), under the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, reported.

3 weeks ago | groundreport.in | Sanavver Shafi

Shagun Bai, a resident of Bishan Khedi village in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district, is eight months pregnant. Every day, she walks two kilometres to fetch muddy water from a deep pit. The 28-year-old filters the dirty water through a piece of cloth before drinking it. At a time when she should be resting and caring for herself and her unborn child, Shagun continues this exhausting routine.