The Other India

It's Chandni 's first time at KFC and she is positively happy about it. As she steps in, she loses some of the inferiority she felt before, when she used to believe that she can never enter a KFC. But today, she feels included and equal to all in the society. A long life, suppressed in poverty and feelings of inferiority can lead children to the concept of "Never dream for better skies". Life in poverty can be depressing and it is almost true.  Ashman foundation is a charitable trust working wholeheartedly towards empowering slum children and women from the society so that they can live with pride and respect. Chandni 's story is not just a single case, but a lot of children out there in the society face such inferiority complexes and are unable to dream for a better life. Ashman foundation reaches out to such sufferers and treats them the way they want to be treated and helps them to dream bigger and achieve bigger. A country like India requires hundreds of Ashma...

  What is the first thing that comes to our mind when we think about slums? Do we know what deplorable health and environmental conditions exist in slums? Every now and then we come across news that reports eviction of slum dwellers due to encroachment? Their houses are demolished and asked to leave. Do we ever wonder where would they go after getting evicted? They just get settled in another government or private land only to get evicted again just when they think that they have a home now. The cycle just keeps occurring again and again. Why aren't we able to solve this problem and help them to give a sense of belonging? Slums are the other India that we should focus on. Ok, let's understand the cycle first before thinking about a plausible solution. Due to rapid urbanization more and more people come to cities with a dream to improve their lives. They get settled on lands that are open and unclaimed what we call slums. These slums have people who work as daily wagers, dr...

The Past, Present and Future :  Slums in the Indian context is a place that came as a part of colonial invention, that sprouted from the leftovers of the dirt and stench at the backdrop of its flamboyant towns and cities. The advent of industrial revolution brought about a paradigm shift in the world by eventually reducing the grip of agricultural activities in the socio-economic realm. The destruction of the rural industries and agriculture by virtue of the innumerable British policies, and persuaded by the false prospects of better employment and livelihood in the industrial establishments of colonial India, forced the rural poor, burdened by famine and deprived of livelihood , to migrate in large numbers to towns and cities . This migration that remained consistent and increasing since its inception led to the formation of slums, that accommodate large number of population in the small discrete pockets spread at indiscrete parts of cities and towns where people subsist on mini...