Stories from the field

An imaginary line divides the Kols, a tribal group with a population of around 3 lakhs living in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Kols living in north-eastern Madhya Pradesh enjoy the…

Twenty years old and single, Kesarbehn is the youngest member of a unique grassroots organisation in Bundelkhand: the Patha Kol Adhikar Manch. She starts her working day at 6 a m when she leaves her…

Incomplete bridges and roads; public hospitals without doctors or medicines; schools without teachers. These are familiar sights in Uttar Pradesh. They are symptoms of poor governance and a weak civil society. Economists Jean Dreze and…

A first-time visitor to the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP) will be struck at the sight of men openly carrying guns. Explains Vidyasagar Bajpeyi, a long-time worker of the Akhil…

The Sahariyas, living in and around the forests bordering Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, are among the poorest and most oppressed people in India. Bundelkhand Sewa Sansthan (BSS), a PACS programme-supported CSO, and the lead…

Laxmi, 35, from Budhora, Mahoba district, belongs to the Kori caste, which traditionally earns its livelihood through manual labour. Like others in her community, Laxmi had to migrate in search of work. Since 2004, however,…