Market of Joy

For years Timra, a village in Manoharpur block of West Singhbhum district suffered from lack of market place for their agricultural produce. Located in the beautiful Saranda forest, it is home to 130 families who rely on agricultural and forest produce which they sell in a market in Manoharpur about 17 kms from their village. With very limited transportation available for them to transport their heavy sacks of vegetables and forest produce to the market, the community many a time had to undertake arduous journey on foot and with heavy loads on their back. With awareness generated through the initiative about their rights, community members raised the issue in Gram Sabha meetings and with regular persuasion from the community, Gram Sabha agreed to set up a market in the village itself. This has been a gamechanger for the community as they are able to sell their produce at the comfort of their villages without going through the hassle of travelling long distances. The market is organised once a week on every Tuesday and under supervision of the Gram Sabha. This step has gone a long way in restoring faith of the community in their local and immediate governance institution as a reliable institutional process where community issues will be heard, deliberate, discussed and acted upon.

Glimmer of hope – Compensation & linkages

Glimmer of hope – Compensation & linkages

Bablu Hansda s/o – Mangal Hansda, a resident of Hirapur village, Shikaripara block of Dumka district was working as a casual paid labour (CPL) in 51 RCC, Himank Project of BRO on Karu Tangse Road at Ladakh. He suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away on 23rd July...

SMCR: Ensuring Timely compensation

SMCR: Ensuring Timely compensation

On 7th February, 2021 a major landslide in Chamoli glacier happened in Uttarakhand with many migrant workers falling prey to nature’s fury. Little did Hemanti Devi, a resident of Chokad village of Ramgarh district know that her husband would be one of them and her...

The Story of Manjoliya village

The Story of Manjoliya village

Manjoliya village, located 3kms from the block headquarter in Sakra has seen a remarkable feat of pond rejuvenation by its community members. One of the village’s rain-fed ponds, surrounded by 60 Scheduled Caste households, had turned into a dumping space for...

Pursuit Of Changing Life For Better

Pursuit Of Changing Life For Better

For 3 hours a day, 10 year old Arifa collects reusable garbage. She does it because she’s told to, and not because she’s aware that it’s sold to provide for her family of three older sisters and a one-year-old brother. She’s a girl, and hence, doesn’t need to be...

I Don’t Want To Collect Garbage For Money.

I Don’t Want To Collect Garbage For Money.

Along the Uttar Pradesh Border, buried in the by lanes of Bhowapur, is a learning centre run by Phia Foundation, for children from the rag picking community that lives in its fringes. The children come from make-shift houses, constructed on mounds on garbage, which...

Reaching Out To The World Through Internet

Reaching Out To The World Through Internet

Hemlata, twenty years old and married is another Internet Saathi who is transforming the skills she learnt to the women in village Bhagwanpur. She takes a lot of pride in helping other women to learn the internet. None of the women in the village own a mobile phone....

All Five Children At School

All Five Children At School

Kiran Devi lives in Bhowapur’s ragpicker colony, on the outskirts of Delhi. She gets up early every day and works long hours sorting out rubbish and classifying it in different categories so it can be sold. Kiran now sends all five of her children to school every day...

Life Has Become Hell Here

Life Has Become Hell Here

Their daughter Kajal was only three months old when she died of malnutrition. Manoj Ravidas and Pratima Devi work as ragpickers in a slum community in Bhowapur on the outskirts of Delhi. Living in such appalling conditions, on a garbage dump, it’s hardly surprising...

Shelter Provides Education And Hope

Shelter Provides Education And Hope

Amit Kumar, 15, has no doubt he would be working as a child labourer without the support of PHIA Foundation partner Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan. Instead, during seven years of coming to the A-Block Children’s Shelter, run by Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan in the Motia Khan area...

Education Is A Route Out Of The Slums

Education Is A Route Out Of The Slums

Muskan takes us inside the improvised, ramshackle slum dwelling she calls home, and pulls aside the curtain that leads into the bedroom she shares with her mother and siblings. Except there aren’t actually any beds. ‘I sleep wherever I can find a bit of room – there’s...

Campaign To End Manual Scavenging

Campaign To End Manual Scavenging

Manual scavenging, the process of removing, carrying and disposing of human excrement from dry latrines by hand, is inhumane and illegal in India. However, many thousands of people find themselves and their families trapped in this work. Manual scavenging is a...