Citizens for Justice and Peace
Prayers for stability during the festive season With Durga Puja around the corner, small traders pray that business picks up
25-Sep-2021
It has been well documented that job opportunities have shrunk due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown and its aftermath. However expenses have continued to swell, especially for medical treatment. And now as Durga Pujo, the biggest festival of Bengalis approaches, the money crunch is being felt the most. Many middle income and low income families have…
Lockdown impact: “Those who once greeted me with ‘salaam’, don’t even talk to me any more” Part-9 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
23-Sep-2021
During our fact-finding mission in Purvanchal, we came across several instances of unemployed families forced to the brink of starvation. In December 2020, we met Mohammed Shoeb, an elderly gentleman from Revri Talab in Madanpura, who had not eaten a single morsel of food that day. “Food wasn’t cooked in our kitchen today,” says 65-yesr-old…
India’s ASHA workers: Overworked, underpaid and exploited? Baseline health activists still struggle with delayed payments and no incentives
17-Sep-2021
As part of the government’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), a new group of baseline health workers called Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA workers) was formed in 2005 to address health related demands of the rural population, especially women and children, who find it arduous to access basic health services. The government guidelines laid down several…
Lockdown impact: Religion-based discrimination rampant in Varanasi? Part-8 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
15-Sep-2021
CJP’s fact finding mission analysing the plight of workers from the weaving industry and allied activities, in face of the Covid induced lockdown, has also come across several allegations of religion-based discrimination, even amidst a deadly pandemic. On November 29, 2020, our team came across Imtiaz*, an Aari worker who was forced to run a coffee stand…
Lockdown impact: Unemployed fathers, abused mothers and daughters deprived of education Part-7 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
08-Sep-2021
As part of CJP’s fact-finding mission in Uttar Pradesh’s Purvanchal region, we held a meeting with some young girls from weaver families in Saraiya in December 2020. They told us that after failing to find work the men in their homes would often vent their frustration by getting physically violent with the women. Some of the…
Lockdown impact: Lungi weavers left in the lurch Part-6 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
01-Sep-2021
CJP’s fact-finding team studying the impact of the Lockdown on weavers in Uttar Pradesh’s Purvanchal region, found itself in Shahpur, Azamgarh in November 2020. Here, we came across Ahmed Ansari, who weaves and sells lungis or traditional waist cloth. He told us how the increasing cost of raw materials and electricity charges as well as…
Human Trafficking Bill and the government’s Saviour Complex It denies agency to the women who it wants to save
19-Jul-2021
At the outset the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care And Rehabilitation) Bill, 2021 comes off as a law aiming to introduce stringent measures to tackle the inhuman crime of forcing individuals into the murky business of flesh trade. Naturally, if such an inhuman crime exists there has ought to be a law to tackle it…
A dairy diary from Uttarakhand For the first time, Van Gujjars, traditional dairy farmers, feel they need govt assistance
10-Jul-2021
The Van Gujjar community has been dairy farmers for millennia. Rearing cattle, and trading in milk and milk products, is the way of life they have inherited from their ancestors. They move with the seasons, their animals graze off the lands along the migration routes, and produce milk that is then consumed and traded. However,…
Wives of Migrant Workers: A story of struggle amidst uncertainty CJP Grassroots fellows documents the plight of these women
09-Jul-2021
As the women, who stay behind in their villages to sustain migration by supporting their men, face acute distress amidst a prolonged lockdown, CJP fellows Ripon Sheikh and Tinku Sheikh speak to them and bring out their stories. Support CJP’s grassroots fellows to enable people from the marginalized communities document stories that are often ignored…
Lockdown impact: A Zardozi artisan vows to never teach his children his craft Part-5 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
31-Mar-2021
In November 2020, while conducting our fact-finding mission in the Koila Bazar locality of Chuhatta in Varanasi, we came across Murtaza Hussain, a Zardozi artisan. The lockdown has hit him hard. His future is uncertain, but he doesn’t want his children to suffer the same fate. “I will never teach them this work,” he says,…
Lockdown Impact: President’s award winning Aquaculture scholar sells fish for a living Part-4 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
26-Mar-2021
Varanasi is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Its citizens are a hardy lot, they always find a way to come out stronger from any adversity. But one has to ask why should they have to suffer to the point of taking up menial jobs just to survive? CJP team…
Lockdown Impact: Crushing debt, mounting bills Part-3 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
20-Mar-2021
In the by-lanes of Purana Gorakhnath locality of Gorakhpur, we came across Shahjehan, who was carrying mounds of yarn on his bicycle. His business has failed, family is in debt and the punishing electricity bills just rub salt into his wounds. “I am taking this yarn to be put on spindles, so that we can use…
Lockdown Impact: Weaver family drowning in debt Part-2 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
12-Mar-2021
The traditional Banarasi weaving industry in India’s Purvanchal region is withering, and people engaged in the trade are struggling financially. Entire families have been pushed into poverty, girls are suffering in the absence of online education as schools are shut. Our team came across 18-year-old Amina whose family of ten in Mubarakpur, is struggling to get back…
Lockdown Impact: Weavers forced to become tea sellers! Part-1 of our on-going series based on CJP's Purvanchal fact-finding mission examining the decline of the traditional weaving industry
08-Mar-2021
The once thriving Banarasi weaving industry has come to a grinding halt in wake of the Covid-19 induced national lockdown. But despite the heritage status accorded to the traditional handloom industry that is a part of the Varanasi’s culture for more than a millennium, Banarasi weavers are struggling to make ends meet, mainly due to…
When will we give women farmers their due? CJI's recent comments call for a closer look at women’s contribution to Indian agriculture
16-Jan-2021
“Women farmers do most of the work in the fields. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the men everyday and so while protesting against the three farm Acts passed by the central government, we will not back down,” said farmer Nikita Kakra from Shahapur city in Maharashtra on January 13, 2021, when asked about the Chief Justice…