Khirendra who hails from the strife-ridden ‘red corridor’ region of Bastar is an eccentric renaissance man. He is sculptor, a painter, a street theater artiste and an ex- football player for his district. He is a long distance runner by passion and claims impressive distances and impressive speeds. He is a dalit. The oppression that he experienced and witnessed while…

Khirendra Yadav

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It has been 75 years since India achieved independence from British rule. However, remote and far fetched areas of India are still devoid of the fruits of freedom and development. In this video report filed by Khirendra Yadav, our community correspondent from Chhattisgarh, we see that a section of the villagers of Kondagaon (Totar) draw water from muddy streams as the administration has failed to install as basic as a handpump. 

"We have complained many times to the local panchayat and administration. But they keep giving assurances without any action on ground," says a local villager. Even to fetch that polluted water, women of the village have to walk half a kilometer and dig in the sand for water to collect. They then wait for the mud to settle down before they can filter out the water. Whether that water is fit for consumption or not is always a matter of chance.

Khirendra is working with the local villagers in submitting a formal application to the local authorities to get a handpump installed.