Archive

MNREGA: 80 labourers, 20 days of work, no payment

 
/ November 7, 2014

Our VV-PACS Community Correspondent, Navita Devi, reports from Ahimachak village, in Bagicha Tola of Katihar district in Bihar, on how the village’s labourers are still awaiting compensation under M.N.R.E.G.A eight months after completion of the work allotted to them. Spokespersons for the affected community say that such irregularities are just...

Sanctioned but not served: Widows without pension

 
/ October 21, 2014

“He ruined his life by drinking, I tried to stop him but he didn’t listen,” says Foto Devi of her late husband. Like many other widows of Abholi village, VV-PACS Community Correspondent Anjana Yadav reveals the benefits of widow-pension scheme remain inaccessible to Foto Devi.   CALL FOR ACTION: You...

A stream running dry: Locals denied compensation for land acquisition

 
/ October 15, 2014

326 families in rural Madhya Pradesh haven’t been compensated for their lands acquired by the government  about three decades ago. The land was used for a dam project, which is not in a functioning state either. The project that was supposed to empower them, has robbed them of everything they...

Policy Pipe-dreams: Smart Card is just a piece of plastic in Jharkhand

 
/ October 13, 2014

“They told me that the smart card is not working,” says Bahamuni Hembrom, who had to pay more than INR 10000 to the nursing home where she delivered her child. “When we were coming back, they took the receipt back,” her husband told Community Correspondent Chunnu Hansda.   CALL FOR ACTION:...

Pestering the people’s republic

 
/ October 1, 2014

Adani Enterprise Ltd, which is Adani Group’s flagship company, was set to be the Mine Developer and Operator (MDO) for Machakatta and Chhendipada coal blocks in Angul District of Odisha. But the Supreme Court ruled in September 2014 that process related to land acquisition in the region are to be...

MNREGA is more like free-labour in Mahadepur

 
/ September 17, 2014

VV-PACS Community Correspondent Anil Kumar reports from Mahadepur in Uttar Pradesh, checking the ground realities of one of the most advertised policy of recent times: the MNREGA act (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme). The report shows hundreds of labourers haven’t been paid for their work. You can ensure they...

SUCCESS: Clean water supply made possible in a Mumbai slum

 
/ September 10, 2014

Access to safe water is a daily challenge for a majority of Indians. The worst affected communities are often those from lower socio-economic strata. For instance, in places like Mumbai, the worst effects of water crisis are seen in urban slums. Only those who can afford to pay private contractors...

Success: Waking a languid administration in Odisha

 
/ September 3, 2014

In the month of July last year, three families were thrown out of their house in Deultunda village of Bargarh district in Odisha. The mob, which chased them out of the village, mostly consisting of ‘upper-caste’ Hindus, also vandalised whatever little possessions they had. “They were drunk and chased us...