Untouchability. You may think that this horrendous practice has disappeared in 21st century India, an India that is running towards socio-economic development; you may think that caste identities no longer govern people’s lives. Look around you, caste based discrimination carries on in the most insidious ways possible—in matrimonial ads; when...
The Village Council Head, Sobitra Nagesh, from Chhattisgarh proudly declares his village is Open-Defection Free on camera. And one would believe him. But a short walk around the village Bansajhal and conversations with the residents exposes the lie that Sobitra blatantly said on camera. The most important objective of the Swachh Bharat...
Community Correspondent Dasarathi Behera shares how he got a working hand pump for 60 families: Makdiasahi is a tiny village in Deogarh, Odisha. The community comprises of about sixty families, most of whom earned their living by braiding & selling ropes made from material sourced from the ample forests of...
The Right to Education Act guarantees children in government run or aided schools the access to potable water. However, according to the activist network of Nuapada district of Odisha, the children of the village school of Dotto hadn’t had any access to water in the school for almost a year....
On a July afternoon in VV’s Goa office, a phone call rudely interrupted the rain soaked stupor of the office. IU Community Correspondent Shanti Baraik was in town and needed help rescuing twelve people working as bonded labourers in Margao, in South Goa. Bonded labour, if you believe the Government...
The residents of Amrapalinagar, a slum in Nashik city had been suffering from a smelly and clogged sewage system for the last 5 years. Although the City Municipality was supposed to regularly clean the sewage, they had been neglecting the work. As a result, the slum which is home to...
Rural pregnant women are motivated to deliver their babies in hospitals rather than in their homes, according to Manav Vikas Mission (Human Development Mission). This program, launched in 2006 is an initiative of Government of Maharashtra to increase Human Development Index (HDI) of backward districts of Maharashtra, India. Under this...
Sarwat Naqvi made a video on the hardships faced by the homosexual community in Chhattisgarh. The video, entitled “Homsexuals Seek An Identity” exposed the various discriminations this community is subjected to, and the lack of support it receives from the rest of society. “I organized a screening of my video,...
