Explore Rajasthan’s rural water crisis: challenges, solutions, and stories of resilience in Kalwada, Bhamboriya, and Nevta Panchayats
Detachment and Integration: Life in Pota Cabins
Akanksha write about her observations at Pota Cabin schools. How Integrating young minds in Sukma into a predetermined education system, while removing them from violence, can creates a sense of detachment
Theoretical and Practical Knowledge – is the Debate Relevant?
Gaurav explores the conundrum around the age old debate between theory and practice, although are they truly in opposition?
Art By Women, Imitates Women’s Life
During my first month at Sakhi Sangini, I had diverse community experiences. My favourite was a film screening for our SHG women
A Woman’s Price in Society
The pink tax, or gender-specific pricing on women’s goods, contributes to the disproportionate financial burden that women face.
Bihar, Janeu, Raskadam And The Fall
How did such a glorious state, that Bihar was 800 years ago as a learning hub of the world, fall from grace?
Kites Of Hope: Weaving Livelihoods In Bastis Of Ahmedabad
Exploring the lore behind kites and kite-makers of Ahmedabad and their vital role in sustaining livelihoods
Restoring Kutch’s Grasslands From ‘Mad Trees’
Restoring the grasslands of Kutch by converting the prosopis or the mad trees into Biochar using pyrolisis, reducing carbon emission
Bursting Myths And Building Trust: Reflections From Working With A Tribal Community In Rural Rajasthan
In the months of April and May 2020, when there was a nationwide lockdown, AMRIT clinics (run by Basic Healthcare Services), supported by Aajeevika Bureau were busy distributing food packets and ration in remote villages of Southern Rajasthan. Many families in this...
Why Mansukhbhai Is “Not Okay” With Being Bela’s Last Hand Block Printer
Mansukh Pitambar Khatri looks painfully scrawny and impossibly gnarled, as he bends over a long table spread with a beige cloth. He certainly looks suited to his trade, as he continues to work, oblivious to the heat, using astonishing muscle memory while printing a...
Aspirations Of Youth In Jamui, Rural Bihar
Introduction Young people are agents of change in a country. Youth can be termed as a “transition period while the individuals prepare themselves to become responsible and productive citizens of the country”. Different organizations define the youth age group...
How The Khatris Are Bringing Josh To Rogan
Mohmad Hanif Arab Khatri comfortably seats himself on the floor. Stretched out before him is a piece of blue cloth, pinned on either side to the legs of a low-length table. Reaching for his dibbi, he pulls out a stylus and a blob of a thick brownish gelatinous...
Who Are The Commons Really For?
Disclaimer: This blog is a translation of a case study written by the Urban SETU team, working with migrants and the Nagar Palika of Bhuj city in Gujarat. If you read Gujarati, you can read it here! I have only connected the idea of The Tragedy Of The Commons and...
Love Story: Return – Part 2/2
Read Part 1 here “ㅤ Zuleikha, I am here. Zulu, l have come. Zulu, please take me in. He looks weak. Dead, if I were honest. I had cut off my past, my past had cut me off. Why is he here… Zuleikha, I looked for you. Zulu, I looked for you in the whorehouses. Zulu, you...
Love Story: Escape – Part 1/2
“ It was in the summers, about 30 years from today. I was pretty like those girls in TV serials. We didn’t have much, but Abba and Ammi spared enough for all my brothers and sisters, every month. I remember going with Abba to the vegetable market. Fond memories,...
How Shakil Bhai is Printing a Different Story, One Block at a Time
It's dirty, noisy and crowded. There's wastewater flowing in from one side. Cows and dogs are picking through piles of garbage, hunting for leftovers. There's an unpleasant stench wafting in the air. It isn't the most welcoming sight to witness, not...
Youth Leadership In Rural Chhattisgarh
Before 2020 could end, we (Nikita D'cruz and I) got to meet a group of 25 local people from the villages of Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh. If you aren’t familiar with the region, it’s one of those towns that aren’t known to many, and have to be referred to, with a...
To The Last Mile: Digital Financial Services In Rural Communities
Ever since I completed my graduation, got a job and became financially independent, I do not remember transacting much in cash, except for the few instances of grocery shopping at a local market or paying for an auto rickshaw ride. There was always a digital...
A Balanced Diet Amidst Imbalances
Gogunda is a small town (tehsil headquarters), about 35 kilometres from Udaipur city. It has a hilly terrain. The sabzi mandi in Gogunda is vibrant with lots of fresh vegetables and greens. From sugarcane to the nutritious singhada (water chestnut), there is a wide...
Whom Do We Serve?: Making A Tough Choice For The Organization’s Ethos
When I first got to know about being placed at Shram Sarathi for my fellowship year, I was pleasantly surprised. Wanting to work at the intersection of finance and development, this was like a dream come true. It was also like coming back to a point where I had...
A Model Sarpanch And Red Bindis
“Where do women and girls want to go and what do they want?” Until the day I visited a Sarpanch for the first time, as a part of my field visits, I realized that I had not given much thought to the little dots that we like to place on our foreheads as ‘bindis’. For...
Inside Sharma Ji’s Religious Haven
Baldev Sharma's* shop where you'll find idols of gods and goddesses belonging to Hindu, Jain and Buddhist faiths, most of which have been carved on order by customers for various temples and homes. Hailing from a lineage of sculptors, Sharma ji, almost on cue, begins...