Published Paper Details:

India is a democratic country where fair elections are conducted and citizens exercise their right to vote. They elect their representatives in the hope that their votes will not go waste and their elected representatives will fulfill the promises that they made during their election rallies. The citizens hope that they will be able to reap the benefits of development for the greater good. But do people actually reap the fruits of development equally? The unequal distribution thwarted by the vicious cycles of caste, class, race, gender grips in every society that builds up and the Indian society is no such exception. What happens when community members realize gradually that rather than being passive beneficiaries of the government schemes being provided to them, they can make a claim over it. This work is an attempt to thrust the community towards becoming active claim makers rather than just being passive beneficiaries. The members of the community work together, in order to achieve one common agenda, which has not been addressed for a long time. This work draws upon my experiences, working in Mohgoan Ryt, an Adivasi inhabited village in the district of Dindori, Madhya Pradesh. The discussions, in the beginning, tried to move me towards an infrastructural issue within the village- the road that connected three hamlets. This particular road, which was demanded to be repaired and built into a concrete cement road, fell into deaf years. Gradually, this issue started to reflect the true nature of the problem. It shifted me towards discovering the various policy mechanisms of the government, the functioning of schemes within the community, and the receiving of it. It also pointed towards the patterns of exclusion and discrimination within the very dynamics of the village.