Since March 2020 the Covid pandemic has created great misery around the country, whether due to repeated lockdowns or the havoc wreaked by the second wave in May last year. However, during this dark period there were also some positive stories to tell. One of them is from Danavav village, situated in the foothills of Mount Abu, in Sirohi district[Read More...]
In March 2020, just before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, all that 16-year-old Zubeida Ali, a student in Lalwadi village of Rajasthan’s Tonk district wanted most was to be the first in her family to pass the 10th class exam and become a teacher. Little did she know that her life goal would have to be put on pause. A[Read More...]
11 year old Ruby (name changed) never saw the face of any school. Because her father is a poor farmer cultivating one bigha of land and mother Hansa Devi works as a labourer under the MNREGA or national employment guarantee scheme. That’s why the parents leave Ruby at home to take care of their two younger siblings. Early in the[Read More...]
There has been a steep increase in child labour in the country during the Covid pandemic period that shows severe economic distress among large sections of the population. The figures of the government itself are telling that apart from the mental, physical health of the children, this virus has forced them to work at a young age. Children have started[Read More...]
Soon after the Covid-19 pandemic hit India in March 2020, the imposition of a nationwide lockdown forced millions of desperate migrant workers, deprived of income or security, to return their home across the country. However, their problems did not end even after they returned from the city to the village. After coming to the village, many of them remained unemployed.[Read More...]
In the thick of the cold winter mist, with a woolen scarf around her face, 25 year old Anju Naik starts her day by knocking on the doors of residents of Rohina Village, situated in Phalodi Block of Jodhpur district in Rajasthan. Every day she manages to reach out to at least 10-12 households as part of a door-to-door campaign[Read More...]
Sitting inside a 4×6 feet room of her house, situated in Jaipur’s walled city, Afrooza Bano is busy carving the notches on bamboo sticks used to make kites. It’s mid-day and she has almost finished making 500 kites and is still to make 500 more. While she is strings the bamboo sticks together, her husband arranges them in a pile. Despite[Read More...]
As 2021 ended the Government of Rajasthan made a concerted push to increase Covid vaccination rates in the state by announcing a series of disincentives. The unvaccinated it said will not be eligible for benefits under government schemes and may also have to pay fines. While this new policy was prompted by the arrival of the Omicron variant and fears[Read More...]
The ‘jheli’ is a wooden rake, popular in both rural and urban areas of Rajasthan and its neighbouring states, for its multiple uses as well as low cost. Since early 2020 though, with the arrival of the Covid pandemic, the market for this handy instrument has shrunk drastically threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of villagers in parts of Rajasthan who[Read More...]
In March 2020, while activity of all kinds came to a standstill across the country due to the Covid lockdown, the impact was negligible on one industrial sector in Rajasthan – mining. After a 10 day shut down in April 2020 initially, the state government gave permission for mining, a sign of the enormous political and economic clout of[Read More...]
