In an unfortunate accident two years ago left Dinesh Bhuiyan of Jharkhand with one amputated leg and a paralysed hand. “While one leg was amputated, the other leg has limited movement. Since then, I have been unable to earn for my family,” tells Dinesh to Manju Kisku, our Correspondent in...
Three years ago, Md Shehnavaz, a 12-year-old student of Dhanaila Primary School had never seen only two teachers. His classes would happen once in a few days, but it was a new problem. The school was completed in 2007 and catered to over 350 students, mostly from Maha Dalit community,...
In the year 2014, Sahuja Devi, a resident of Bihar would worry about the depleting water in the community well every morning. The government well, the only source of water in Kailashpur village had been lying in a dilapidated condition for two years and would soon crumble. “We requested the...
In India, the Panchayati Raj functions as a system of governance in which gram panchayats, the village councils, are the basic units of local administration. Formalised under the Panchayat Raj Act in 1992 by the 73rd amendment to the Indian Constitution, the village council looks after the development and welfare of the...
The handpumps of Bilha village, in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh, have hardly pumped water in the past one year. Due to the water scarcity, mothers and young girls of more than 100 families of the village walk over 2 km to fetch water from Kulga, the nearest village. The...
Every village in India that has a population of at least 300 people, is governed by a Panchayat, whose members are elected from among the villagers. These elected leaders oversee local affairs ranging from road construction and sanitation to education and maintaining civil records. The Panchayats are, so to speak,...
Bundeli, a 65-year-old woman from Chhattisgarh is living like a refugee in someone else’s backyard. All her worldly belongings are bundled up in a small sack by the side of her bed, a space on a bare ground. But Bundeli once had a house up until September 10, 2016...
Anandrao Bendukle, 81, had been embroiled in a battle for rehabilitation for the past 20 years against the state. His agricultural land was submerged while making the Kashyapi Dam along river Godavari. In 1997, when the lands of Kashyapnagar, Dhondegaon, Devargaon and other regions in Nashik district where acquired, the Maharashtra...
