Projects

‘They Like Our Music, Not Us’: Nepali Dalits Unite to Fight Prejudice

Khukuri has historically been the symbol of Gorkha valour and pride. Now, the makers of the machete-like knife with an inwardly-curved blade seek pride for themselves. Ambedkar on the lips, Nepali Dalits of the Indian subcontinent have joined forces to launch their first ever united, cross-border fight against prejudice and to work towards building pride…

Legacy in a tea cup

Forbes Life India

Nov 2018 issue. A chatter rises in the heavy monsoon air, descending the steep slopes of Makaibari. The fog clears, bit by bit, to reveal a group of tea workers in an animated post-lunch conversation. They pause for a breath or two; their hands don’t. Their nimble fingers keep working on the tender green leaves—two…

Swapna Barman, the first Indian woman to win an Asiad gold in heptathlon, is a star here

The Hindu Magazine

The courtyard outside Basana Barman’s house is a flurry of activity. A teenaged boy is atop the corrugated roof plucking mango leaves while a group of women huddle together on the verandah preparing offerings for worship. A table fan buzzes in front of a khaki-clad police constable seated at the gate. “It is going to…

How a few volunteers at Bagdogra airport are helping curb trafficking of Nepalese women

Scroll.in

The women stood out in the crowd on a September evening. Raj Kumar Gurung and Rajesh Singh spotted the three – one clad in a saree and two others in worn-out jeans and T-shirts – looking “totally lost” next to the pay-and-use toilet in front of Bagdogra International Airport. Gurung picked up a conversation with…

Ladybird Writes

NWMI website

Sexual harassment at the workplace can assume a myriad chilling and predatory forms. Siliguri-based Independent journalist Anuradha Sharma describes the decade-long stalking and telephonic abuse that she was subjected to by her senior. I have been very closely following the #metoo conversations going on in social media. One hell of a triggering experience it has…

Small tea maker makes it big in Darjeeling

Nikkei Asian Review

DARJEELING, India — The heavily potholed dirt road winds through pine forests, quiet hamlets and small tea gardens before bending off in front of the factory at Niroula’s Tea Farm. Nearby, two workers pluck tender green tips — just two-leaves-and-a-bud — of tea, balancing wicker-baskets on their heads and themselves on the sloping ground. “Twenty years…

Modi’s strange relationship with the truth

Index on Censorship

(paywalled) First Published September 10, 2018 Other https://doi.org/10.1177/0306422018800406 Article information Article Information Volume: 47 issue: 3, page(s): 74-77 Article first published online: September 10, 2018; Issue published: September 1, 2018 Anuradha Sharma

Startups put safety first for Indian women travelers

Nikkei Asian Review

SILIGURI, India — By the time the Ranchi Kamakhya Express trundled into Siliguri station, running over 10 hours late, it was almost midnight. Siliguri is the nearest train terminal for the Himalayan state of Sikkim, where a group of nine teenage girls from Jharkhand were headed. Despite having already traveled on the train for 24 hours…

Six decades ago, a workers’ uprising changed Darjeeling’s tea gardens. It’s time for change again

Scroll.in

On this day in 1955, workers of the Margaret’s Hope tea garden led a revolt against unfair management practices. Things are not very different today. Six decades after the Margaret’s Hope revolt, the workers on Darjeeling’s tea gardens are still as exploited as ever, earning low wages, with shrinking fringe benefits. | Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters…

A year after the Gorkhaland stir, the hills are gripped by a sense of betrayal – and football fever

Scroll.in

One recent day, colourful flags added cheer to the grey, pre-monsoon morning in the West Bengal hill station of Kurseong, 30 km from Darjeeling. With the football World Cup less than a fortnight away, the hills have come alive with the flags of Argentina, Germany and Brazil sticking out of shared cabs, decorating shop fronts…