Anti Poverty Programs
With an expanding IT sector and an annual economic growth rate of seven percent, India’s growth seems unstoppable. In an effort to keep pace with the economy, the Indian government, in hand with international agencies and private contractors, is undertaking a formidable set of domestic development programs. These programs are aimed at building the networks and facilities that must be in place if the country is to continue to grow. Without these crucial development projects, India’s fast-paced progress could be derailed. However, these projects come with significant and sometimes irrevocable consequences. Many are displaced with little to no compensation. The government’s methods are often highly questionable and many are disenfranchised as a result of Delhi’s national ambitions. In this section, India Unheard community correspondents look into India’s development schemes and programs.
Chhattisgarh: Rapid Industrialisation Threatens Tribal Livelihood
The rapid industrialisation of Chhattisgarh has disrupted the environmental balance of the region. The livelihoods of the millions of indigenous people that depended on forest resources of the region are at stake, as the forests succumb to industries and mining activities. Rajesh Gupta, Video Volunteer community correspondent captures the loss...
Cashless and Landless: Tribal oustees of Narmada worry about their future
The Sardar Sarovar Dam has displaced over 41,000 families from the banks of Narmada across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, since 1985. The Sardar Sarovar Punarvasvat Agency (SSPA) was constituted in 1992, for implementing the Resettlement and Rehabilitation for affected families, but little action has been taken to offer the...
A Bad road is hindrance to progress in Bihar
The village of Sarpharwa in the East Champaran district of Bihar is home to Video Volunteer correspondent Tanju Devi. The village’s access to the basic necessities and amenities are reached through a journey to the nearest town Dongri. However, Tanju Devi and her community suffer as the journey on this...
51 villages will be submerged by Sardar Sarovar Dam
The picturesque village of Kasrawad stands by the banks of river Narmada. However, the village may be soon consumed by the river, which had nourished it for centuries due to the nearby Sardar Sarovar Dam. While a government survey back in 2001 had claimed that over 360 houses will be...
Without electricity, a village suffers in darkness
A remote tribal village of Chhattisgarh has never seen electricity. While government schemes such as Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), worth $11 billion, have visions to provide continuous power supply to rural India, the Parevachapa village in Pandaria district of Chattisgarh, a village established 16 years ago, is...
Over 2 decades later, the Narmada-dam displaced still wait for their land
Twenty-two years ago, in 1994, Jugla Vasave was ousted from his home and farm in Chimalkhadi village in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, when the Sardar Sarovar Dam was built along the Narmada river. He, along with many others, was promised to be rehabilitated with an arable land by the state...
80 families of Kolkata suburb make do with two toilets
According to the UN, sanitation – access to, and use of, excreta and wastewater facilities and services such as clean toilets is a basic human right. However, the Bhagabati Chatterjee street, Belgharia, a suburb of Kolkata has just two toilets that are used by more than eighty families of the...
30 families struggling to access basic amenities in Jharkhand
30 families cannot access basic amenities as they have not been allotted titles for the forest land they have been living on for 30 years. These families are completely dependent on the forest for their livelihood and as per Forest Rights Act, anyone who has been living and cultivating forest land...