Corruption
Corruption permeates all levels of Indian society. Bloated bureaucracies, constant payouts, and siphoned resources prevent many services from running properly—or running at all. Despite this, many work to ease the burden of corruption within the structures in place. The diffusion of the internet has enabled people to share information and join others in the fight against the normalization of corruption. India’s Right to Information Act, enacted in 2005, allows citizens timely access to government information and financial records. This has furnished citizens with a new capacity to speak out against institutional corruption. In this section, IndiaUnheard Community Correspondents report on corruption.
Stakeholders demonstrate against Land Acquisition bill 2013
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015 was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 10, 2015. Land Acquisition in India is a process by which the centre or state government acquires private land for industrialization, development or urbanization while providing...
School at the Risk of Collapsing due to Mine Blasting
A regular class in Kujuma Government School is interrupted with a deafening blast. The walls shook and the ceiling threatened to fall down. But in five minutes later, it was a usual business for the 40-50 children studying in the government primary school. This is not a warzone, this is...
Kisan Credit Card Scam unearthed in Jharkhand
The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) intends to help farmers who are economically weak to take credit at lesser rates to buy seeds, fertilizers and other important things needed for irrigation and farming. But what happens when a hopeful farmer is scammed by the very bank official who appeared as a...
Crops destroyed for rail corridor without notice or compensation
The farmers of this small hamlet in Chhattisgarh were eagerly waiting for their crop to ripe. The harvest was thankfully good this season and was their only source of income to survive till the summer of 2017. But their hopes for a decent crop was destroyed in September 2016 when...
Paper toilets constructed in Rajasthan
One hundred and seventy-two families in Kaliwas Village of Rajasthan got toilets, but they exist only on paper. During 2003-2004, 172 BPL (Below Poverty Line) families of Kaliwas village were sanctioned funds for toilets. According to official records, these toilets were built, but the reality is a far cry from...
Impact – Latrine crisis solved through proactive community solutions
80 families of Karatutha village in Odisha were suffering without toilets in their houses. That was until Community Correspondent, Anupama Sathy made a video about the same in 2015. Due to lack of toilets, these families had to defecate out in open. It was difficult for the women to go...
Video Advocacy: MGNREGA
Since 2006, Video Volunteers’ Community Correspondents Network (CCN) – a cadre of 186 community video journalists – have been using their video cameras to highlight issues of injustice affecting their local communities. One of the key thematic areas has been the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Our...
Community Video Monitoring: Demanding Accountability in Education
A year back, children attending the school in Dotto village, in the Nuapada district of Odisha, had an unusual load to carry — huge bottles of clean, drinking water that would last them the whole day. The Right to Education Act guarantees children in government run or aided schools the...