A fire broke out in a sleepy hamlet of Dumari, Bihar in the middle of an April afternoon when a live electrical wire snapped, burning 250 makeshift houses down to the ground, leaving its poor residents homeless. “I’ve lost everything in the fire; there is no place to live and nothing to...
For thousands of people, mostly men, in rural Bihar, toddy is regarded as the poor man’s beer. Toddy, locally called Tadi, is considered as a natural juice,made from the sap of palm tree. It has been a favourite of villagers who throng toddy-makers in the evening to drink the mildly...
Ram Subhagram’s polio-stricken father withers in pain as he lies in the sub-health centre in Pranpur, Bihar hoping that a doctor comes to visit him soon and relieves him of the pain. But Ram knows that the wait is indefinite. While Health Ministry guidelines state that a sub-health centre is...
One woman’s insistence for justice has brought change for almost 3,000 people in Bihar. One year ago Community Correspondent, Tanju Devi, had made a video on year-long pension arrears under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) of citizens in Gaunaha, West Champaran district of the state. Even after repeated pleas with the authorities, the...
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has boosted about high women participation in the labour workforce. On the completion of a decade of NREGA, BJP national Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh had said revealed that 2014-15 saw the highest utilisation of funds under NREGA with Rs 48,000 crore utilised, the highest...
Everyday in the morning, Meena Devi, a resident of Bihar would travel three hours to get water. She would carry at least 20 litres of water back to her village Chanandi, which would provide for daily requirements of the household – from drinking to washing. She wasn’t alone in this...
Three tribal farmers of Raigadh, Chhattisgarh including Shantaram had unlawfully lost their lands to Navdurga Pvt. Ltd., a sponge iron company. Under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, these lands that belong to the tribal farmers cannot be acquired for industrial purposes. However,...
Naima Khatun, a widow from rural Jharkhand used to survive on a meagre meal of salt and rice, all thanks to her widow pension of Rs. 400. “I used to work for other people in exchange for food but after getting the pension, life was easier,” recalls Naima, as she...
