‘Who knew the lack of rain could kill my art?’ (a thread) Three decades ago, no one wanted to teach a young Sanjay Kamble how to work with bamboo.

Today, when he wants to teach everyone his dying craft, no one wants to learn.

“It’s ironic how times have changed,” the 50-year-old says.

“My lungs feel like stone. I can barely walk,” says Manik Sardar. In November, 2022, the 55-year-old was diagnosed with silicosis – an incurable pulmonary disease. “I have no interest in the upcoming elections,” he continues,
“I am only worried about my family’s condition.”

Meerut’s carrom board makers (a thread) “I reach here by 8:45 a.m. and we start work by nine. By the time I am home, it is 7-7:30 in the evening,” says Madan Pal. ‘Here,’ is the tiny carrom board factory in Suraj Kund Sports Colony in Meerut city, Uttar Pradesh.

Our rural coverage this election season (a thread👇) 2/10

Lenindhasan, or Lenin– as he is called – and his friends, are trying to replace modern rice varieties and resist mono-cropping. Their plan is to restore lost diversity. And to germinate a rice revolution.

It's a different kind of revolution, led by another kind of Lenin. Lenin cultivates 30 varieties of rice. He sells another 15 raised by fellow farmers. And he conserves 80 types of paddy seeds. All this, in his family’s six-acre farm in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvanamalai district.

Life has only become harder in the last 10 years (A thread) India's poorest homes continue to rely on minor forest produce like mahua and tendu leaves, along with the assured Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) programme.

MP govt is punishing "rioters" who had engaged in stone-pelting by destroying private property.

But the idea of Wasim pelting stores is difficult to digest. He had lost both his arms in 2005.

Then why was his house shop razed down too?
[read ahead]

In Wasim’s shop, customers would tell him whatever they needed and help themselves. “They would place the money in my pocket or the drawer in the shop and leave,” he says.  “I had put whatever money I had raised into my shop. It was my livelihood for 15 years.”

A student once asked us:
"Why is inequality bad? The kirana owner has a small store & Ambani has a big business because of how hard they work. People who work hard, succeed."

PARI is hoping to address these misconceptions by showing the lives of hardworking Indians [a 🧵] Unpacking the idea of ‘success’ is possible with a PARI story on unequal access to education, healthcare and justice.

We draw on them in classrooms to share the lives of hardworking people – on farms, in forests and the underbelly of cities, and more.

Every day is Rural Women's Day here at PARI. Don't take our word for it. Browse our website to find stories of some of the most incredible women from rural India!
A thread to get you started 👇

#InternationalDayOfRuralWomen 1/ Seaweed is an essential algae to a wide array of industries, including the pharma industry. But who goes down into the sea to get it? @MPalani17304893 introduces you to the fisherwomen who spend 7-10 hours in the sea every day to harvest it.

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/ta…

In 2017, there were 363 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in Assam’s tea estates, over twice as many compared to the national average.

This @Oxfam report reveals the plight of Assam tea plantation workers. Women get the worst end of the stick.👇🧵

ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/res… In the 160 years since the British established tea production, Assam has become the largest tea-producing state in India, the largest tea-producing region in the world and the world’s fourth largest tea exporter.

Bhagat Singh’s ideology is not meant to be hijacked. He has written with remarkable intellectual clarity. Read what he stood for in his essay — Why I Am an Atheist.

Do not let anyone cloud your mind and reasoning. Snippets in the 🧶 below, link at the very end This 5,790-word essay was first published in People, a periodical brought out from Lahore, in September 1931.

#WorldWaterDay 🧶📹 #WorldWaterDay
Latur, Maharashtra
How much time does it take to fill one pot?

It takes months of hard work to find water in Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu. It is an assault on the senses — the heat, the smoke, the juddering engine. The well-diggers – 5 men and 3 women – hew mud and rock, and heave it up in 40°C #WorldWaterDay2022 🧶

📹 @AparnaKarthi 1/3 Sivagangai is a part of Chettinad, famous for its cuisine and architecture. Here, water has always been a problem. Given its location in Tamil Nadu’s ‘rain shadow’ region, rainfall is often patchy and has been distressingly meagre in the last couple of years

📹@AparnaKarthi 2/3

A city cab driver, who operated taxis in Mumbai and bulldozers abroad for decades, is now devastated by illness. He and his family are struggling with hospital visits and expenses, moving between fear and hope

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/dr… Abdul Rahman’s world has shrunk – professionally, personally, physically. And quite literally. A migrant worker who once travelled across 4 continents, he is now confined to the 150 sq.feet room he lives in with five family members.

The stories by @AparnaKarthi have warmth and empathy. It is why they are so humane, surprising, and affecting. It is also why one can dive into them blindly and be glad that one did.

Here's a short list of some fantastic rural reporting from her 🧵

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/sm… ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/no…

The repeal of the farm laws is a fantastic victory for one of the greatest protests in decades. We are unsure of what lies ahead, but today we must celebrate the resilience of the many farmers who showed us what standing up for your rights can do.
[thread]
#farmlawswithdrawn First off: What were they protesting?
The farmers were fighting for a cause much larger than the repeal of three unjust laws. They were fighting for the rights of us all.
ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/an…

Festivals across rural India: Diversity, Devotion, Celebrations 🧵 Tens of thousands of pilgrims come from the villages of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the Urs of Hazrat Janpak Shaheed – many drawn by an enduring faith in the dargah, some for brisk business at the venue

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/th…

We take you to the mandis in rural Punjab to get a sense of the robust network of APMC markets and yards. These are crucial to the food security of India and a price assurance mechanism for the farmers. 🧵

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/in… | By Novita Singh 📷 2| A combine unloads the wheat grain into a tractor, which will carry it to the nearby Sunam mandi in the Sangrur district. This process is repeated multiple times over the day. The harvesting season starts around Baisakhi in mid-April and is at a peak for the next 10 days

Every day is Rural Women's Day here at PARI. You don't have to take our word for it, just look at our feed. But if a hashtag gets people to read the right message, then, by all means, let's jump on it. A thread of some of our favourite stories on #InternationalDayOfRuralWomen 1/ Seaweed is an essential algae to a wide array of industries, including the pharma industry. But who goes down into the sea to get it? @MPalani17304893 introduces you to the fisherwomen who spend 7-10 hours in the sea every day to harvest it.
ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/ta…

Indian women's under-rated role in agriculture[thread]
81% of Indian women workers are cultivators, labourers & small livestock handlers. Women are barred from ploughing but they almost exclusively perform transplanting, weeding, harvesting, threshing
ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/vi… ‘Manual’ planting, sowing and weeding are more than hard work. They involve a great deal of time spent in painful postures. Most of these activities mean a lot of bending and squatting. Besides, many of the tools and implements used were not designed for the comfort of women. 2/7

Here are 4 photo essays that capture how the #FarmersProtests have been going on?

https://twitter.com/PARInetwork/status/1353576947821932545?s=20

#MahilaKisanDiwas

https://twitter.com/PARInetwork/status/1351086328662945794?s=20