28-year-old Kamlesh Kumar moved to Uttar Pradesh’s Noida from Patna eight years ago, in pursuit of a better life. Kumar is one among thousands of rickshaw pullers (rickshaw-wallahs), mostly in their mid-20s or early 30s, who moved to Noida in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), to try their luck and earn better wages and better standards of living than they could dream of in their home towns. Reality however has been less benevolent. Noida or Gautam Buddh Nagar’s rickshaw wallahs often find themselves constantly trying to juggle the hardships of rent, finding cheap food and getting affordable medical treatment.…
Read moreOn May 7th, Aam Aadmi Party’s South Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Raghav Chadha unveiled the manifesto for his constituency in the presence of the party’s Delhi convener Gopal Rai. On the occasion, Chadha said, “Its not just promises but a resolution to resolve people’s grievances”. The 32-page manifesto mainly focuses on 12 primary issues like pollution, water, healthcare, women protection, sewage, child protection & education, public grievance redressal, empowerment of vulnerable sections of society, public toilets & sanitation, night shelters, transport and culture. Just a few days earlier, we had caught up with the candidate to know his plans and agenda…
Read moreIn the narrow alleys of Pusta road in Khajuri Khas, near New Delhi’s Kashmiri Gate Metro station, a group of elderly people discuss the upcoming elections, standing near a rickety house not far from a pile of garbage disposed of by the locals. In these bylanes of Khajuri Khas, this is not an uncommon scene -- elderly, retired or unemployed people huddling together, discussing everything -- from neighbourhood issues to the government’s failures. As a reporter in search of a Mohalla Clinic, I approach one of them, Mohammad Ismail. Ismail is in his seventies and happy to talk. According to…
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