August 2015
Caught on camera taking bribe | IMPACT
The poor citizens had to pay a bribe of Rs 10 to get their Aadhar cards delivered in Bherwa Village, Madhupur Block, District Deoghar, Jharkhand. Aadhaar or UIDAI (Unique Identification) is a 12-digit unique identification number issued by the Indian government to every individual resident of India. By law, the...
Broken Promises: Pregnant women and frontline health workers still await cash incentives
Baghmara, Jharkhand | Halima Ejaz It has been over 8 months since Usha Devi a resident of Baghmara delivered her baby at a government hospital ,however, she is yet to receive cash incentives of Rs 1400 as promised under the Janani Suraksha Yojana – the government’s scheme to bring down...
With 9 different grains & blessings: an unusual festival for women in northern India
Padugada village, Dhanbad, Jharkhand | Bharti Kumari Karma and Jitiya festivals are very important to the Kurmi community. Unmarried girls pray for their brothers during Karma which is celebrated around August 11, while Jitiya, which is the occasion for married women to pray for the well-being of their children, follows...
Displaced by Coal Mines, 30 Years wait for Jobs Promised – Geeta Tudu reports for...
Phusri Village, Hazaribag district of Jharkhand | Geeta Tudu Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), a producer and supplier of coal to power and steel sectors usurped 906 acres of land across 45 districts in Jharkhand in 1983. Over the next 30 years, a large number of people lost their land and...
Vishakha Power Plant Will Destroy our Livelihoods
Dimirimunda village, Redakhol block, Sambalpur District, Odisha | Mamata Patra reports for IndiaUnheard 70 families fear losing their land to a thermal power plant project proposed by Vishakha Power Ltd.The 1320 MW power plant will be set up across 1200 acres. Residents of the village, most of whom are cultivators,...
No pension for disabled people in Jahanabad, Bihar – Reports Asha
People with disabilities are entitled to benefits from the Samajik Suraksha Pension Yojna (Social Security Pension Scheme). But a family in Alua Bigha village of Bihar is deprived of the same in spite of having three disabled members. Suamnti Devi does not have a Disability pension card even though she...
A disabled boy gets no promised pension
Tentulia village, Jagatsinghpur Dist. Odisha | Anupama Shaty Amarendra Kantha has been certified as 75% disabled by the government. Which means he has been entitled to a monthly ‘pension’ of Rs 300 since he was five years old. But Amarendra is now 13, in class VIII now and – yet...
No school for these children
Sundari, Block Bhabani, Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh | Javed Ansari In 2010 and 63 years after independence, India became one of 135 countries to make education the fundamental right of every child by passing the Right to Education Act. Better late than never? Not in small villages like Sundari,...