Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh is known for its hand-knotted carpets....
Guftgoo-E-Mewat
“आओ भाईसाहब बैठो, कुछ ठंडा वंडा पीयो” These were some of the first words that...
The Toilet Situation In Public Schools Of Rural Bihar
Introduction Having spent nearly 21 years of my life in urban settings, I've...
पिछले तीन महीनों में कुछ नए अनुभव
सवाल थे हर कदम पर, क्या तुमने जवाब ढूंढने की कोशिश की?सीख थी हर मोड़ पर, क्या...
Adivasis – Stereotypes vs Reality
As a diverse country, we know that people from different religions, cultures,...
Fakirani Jats Of Kutch, Gujarat
Since I started working in the corporate IT industry, I've always been away...
Migration And Sanitation
While migration offers economic and livelihood opportunities, it also brings...
सुकमा के स्कूल
देश को आज़ाद हुए 76 साल हो चुके हैं। आज भी हमारे देश में कुछ क्षेत्र ऐसे...
Dialogue And Democracy: Understanding Theatre Of The Oppressed
Paulo Friere was a renowned Brazilian educator and philosopher. As a leading advocate of critical pedagogy that views teaching as a political act, indistinct from issues of social justice and democracy, predicated on fostering agency, empowering learners and...
What Being Restricted Taught Me About Empowerment
As I work with Shram Sarathi in Gogunda block of Udaipur, Rajasthan, if I have to talk about the most epic ways of local commute, I'll tell you this... The field areas, though accessible through public transport, still require one to navigate a few kilometres on foot,...
Is Environment A Labour Issue?
Early last month, I watched Seaspiracy, Kip Anderson's second project to shed light upon a new dimension of the human-made environmental crisis. It's a documentary film that takes the viewer into the literal and metaphorical depths of the crisis unfolding at the seas,...
Failing And Moving From Making Agriculture Work For Rural Youth
Born and brought up in Delhi, I had a fascination to get an exposure to the grassroots of India and see the rural realities in its raw form. To pursue this, I joined India Fellow, a social leadership program. As a part of that, I was placed with Shramik Bharti, an...
We Couldn’t Take Our Masks Off, We Couldn’t Drink Water
Picture from the archives of Setu Abhiyan - Urban team It is a cold December evening and the chilly wind is blowing the plastic shelter of the outside of the house, back and forth. Seated on the plastic rug fashioned from old 20kg cement bags, I make my notes under...
Those Who Fall Between The Cracks – Where Do They Go?
This lockdown was supposed to be different. Wasn’t everything planned to seem much more normal than last year? There are no heartbreaking images of migrants walking back hundreds of kilometres or those of workers stuck at inter-state bus terminals waiting to go back...
Ghost Towns Of Banswara, Rajasthan
Migration for work is etched into the identity of several districts that fall within the perimeter of Southern Rajasthan's tribal belt. Hundreds of private buses ply each day, carrying thousands across borders to cities like Ahmedabad, Surat and Mumbai. A range of...
What It Means To Work With A Community
We were in Sillet, an isolated village that has no electricity, no telecom signal and no water. We had heard that the people from this village had a problem with us - Swasthya Swaraj. It had something to do with a small facility that we were trying to set up in the...
Sorry Harry, But It’s Time We Talk About The Potters Of Khavda
In the Harry Potter universe, magic is the heart and soul of the wizarding culture. It sets the wizards and the witches apart from their Muggle neighbours. While Ismailbhai Kumbhar, may pass off as a Muggle, in this context, he doesn't need an Albus Dumbledore or a...
On Gender And Local Governance
As someone who chose to immerse herself into a fellowship program, straight after attending an all-women’s college, the transition to truly accepting the fact that “Change is slow” is still underway. While attending meetings, trainings and interacting with Local...
To Pause And Smell The Flowers
As I walk back from the office, I call my mother. Sharing my updates from the day - which field area I went to, what was the agenda for the day, how much a team member liked or disliked the activity, how I caught the last bus that leaves at 4:30 PM as it was...
What Motivates Us?
Not everyone decides to work with organisations that attend to particularly vulnerable tribal groups in highly inaccessible areas, but for those who do, what drives them? What is their sense of purpose? Of meaning in work? Working with Swasthya Swaraj at Kalahandi,...
“Jo Mila Wo Kha Lega Hum”
There is only one SBI branch in Kashipur, and just to get into it, one needs to wait for an hour. Once you get in, it might take an hour or more to get the work done. Wednesdays are worse due to the weekly market. People travel from 5-25 km away to come to the market,...
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...