India’s current obsession with economic development based on extractive mining projects is spelling doom for its indigenous communities. Their rights to land, livelihoods and self-expression, guaranteed by the constitution, are often violated to get such projects going. Ahead of the International day for Indigenous People, we bring you voices of...
The enforcement of any disability arising out of Untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law as per the Article 17 of the Indian Constitution. It was drafted in 1949 specifically to eradicate & abolish the practice of Untouchability. Yet 65 years later, the practice still reigns in...
A couple of months ago CC Neeru Rathod was able to eradicate corruption in Kanpura Primary School, where the organizer of the MDM was swindeling rations and funds. With the help of the community and the school staff, Neeru was able to end this corruption and get the the children...
As a child you might have participated in three-legged races where your legs are tied together. 10 – 15 kids desperately hopping to finish line. Some give up while others are determined to reach the finish line. Now imagine doing that for the rest of your lives… Not that funny...
“In happiness or in suffering, we are always kept aside,” says Kinsuram Chow the village head of Domha Tola village in Chattisgarh who is facing the burden of being born into a caste considered and treated as “untouchables” in India. Even though Kinsuram is working hard to make his village...
Over 30 villagers of Munjal, Rajnandgaon have waited for more than a year to receive wages owed to them by the Forest Department. Please call M.R Meshram, of the Chhattisgarh Forest Department on (0)9424138277 to ensure the people of Munjal get their dues immediately. As part of the Forest Department’s...
At the grand old age of 65, Prabhakar Pradhan is now in the most difficult stage of his life. A cancer patient, he is unable to go out and work. He had hoped that the government’s Madhu Babu Pension Scheme would help him financially. For 5 years he’s had no...
In the late 1980s the Gandhamardan hills in Odisha’s Bargarh district were home to a powerful people’s movement. Not unlike today’s Niyamgiri movement, that too was a cry of the people of the land to save their forest, their Gandhamardan Hill from Bauxite mining. The movement was successful in bringing...
