Rajbanshi tribe celebrate an 800-year-old Gadadhar fair in Cooch Behar. Community Correspondent Bikash Burman shows the celebrations which are attended by over a million people and narrates the history behind the festival. This video was made by a Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Bikash Burman. Community Correspondents come from marginalised communities...
Md Sagir was beaten to death in by the Narpatganj Primary School headmaster Hardev Ram in Bihar’s Araria district in February because he demanded a proper mid-day meal for his daughter. His children witnessed their father’s gruesome end as Hardev beat Sagir together with teachers Mastaan, Shambhu and the school...
An Anganwadi centre in a village is an essential institution in a rural setting to ensure a healthy, educated and aware child and mother. However, this village in Bisungarh district of Jharkhand, home to over at least 61 mothers worry that their children are denied the benefits of anganwadi such as...
Launched in 1975, the integrated child Development Services (ICDS) scheme is one of the world’s largest programmes for early child development. The primary objective of the scheme is to improve the nutritional and health status of children aged 0 to 6 years and pregnant and nursing women. In 2005, the...
The 8,000 people of Malda district in West Bengal, have their daily life and local economy disrupted by Behula river’s toxic waters. The lifeline of villages like Jalangi and Molpur, Behula has been dying a slow, poisonous death due to the paper mills at its banks. “The waters are so polluted,...
A snoring health department in Dhanbad district was awoken from its three-year slumber of non-payment by Halima Ejaj, a soft-spoken woman in Jharkhand in March. Under the Janani Suraksha Yojana, a mother having an institutional delivery in a government hospital is paid Rs. 1,400, while the Sahiya, the government appointed...
Mahamuda Bibi writhes in pain from the labour contractions that have started, but she has to stay strong till she reaches the hospital. However, unlike most urban women, who are driven there in an ambulance, or a vehicle, Mahamuda will have to walk 16 km from her village, Faridpur Pakurdiar...
A fire broke out in a sleepy hamlet of Bihar in the middle of the night, awakening village residents from their deep slumber. Six houses of the village, all belonging to poor farmers, were burnt to ashes along with the yearly ration, stored produce and all household items. Had it...