24-Feb-2021
CJP Grassroots fellow Tinku Sheikh used to work as a migrant worker in Mumbai until the lockdown forced him to be unemployed. During CJP’s campaign against hunger, we came in touch with him and soon enough, we were proud to include him as our Grassroots Fellow. Watch this video to take a glance at the…
22-Feb-2021
Kakdi Kakdya Potinda’s wrapped up body lay on a small cleared patch of red earth, as shocked mourners sat around, perhaps waiting for the last rites to be held. One wonders if the death of the 50-year-old Adivasi woman would ever make the news. She was not famous. She was just another worker eking out…
19-Feb-2021
Bolpur Shantiniketan’s Khowai haat is a weekly fair, by the Khowai river, where many artisans and artists find their sources of income. CJP grassroots fellow Ripon Sheikh speaks to artists and small business owners to know the impact of lockdown on their livelihoods and how would their income be affected by the shutting down of…
02-Feb-2021
“Hit me, I dare you… Do what you want, don’t you have stomachs,” a woman belonging to the forest dwelling Van Gujjar community is heard confronting a man, reportedly a Forest Department guard who can be heard threatening her. She was recording a video of the guards attacking a group of her fellow Van Gujjar community members who were resisting the department’s plan to…
27-Jan-2021
Akash was hoping to study hard and go to college this year, however the Covid-19 lockdown 2020, turned his life upside down. A student of class 12, this is the most crucial academic year for Akash. However, it is one of the worst years he says. He does not own a mobile phone, and is…
16-Jan-2021
This report is part of CJP’s Grassroots Fellowship Program, and has been written by Mamta Pared who hails from the Warli tribe and lives with her family in Nimbavali village in Palghar district. The daughter of brick kiln workers, Mamta wants to be a journalist, and is working on earning a master’s degree in journalism…
13-Jan-2021
CJP grassroots fellows are bringing out stories of communities that are often ignored by the mainstream media. From protests in solidarity with farmers in Bengal to daily wage workers’ concerns, from lives of the indigenous tribes to sharing traditional music of the communities that we work with, they have been busy documenting the world around…
08-Jan-2021
It looks as unusual as it sounds, a bulbous pot-bellied gourd on one end, merging into slender bamboo on the other. You may have seen it in the centre of some traditional Warli wall paintings, where a Tarpa player is the core of the spiral of dancers, who seem to be moving in unison under…
30-Dec-2020
Potters are the original eco warriors. For generations, potters have kneaded clay and water, and their deft fingers have mounded this earthy dough into every kind of utensil imaginable. Their skill is passed down generations, a heritage, that is not merely learned, it is lived. But one cannot live on heritage status alone. Daily bread…
29-Dec-2020
This report is part of CJP’s Grassroots Fellowship Program, and has been written by researcher Ripon Sheikh, who is travelling around rural Bengal, tracking and documenting social and cultural movements of indigenous people. For this report, he meets inspirational citizens who are working to educate members of the Adivasi communities they themselves belong to, leading by…