INDIA

Our project was set up in 2002 in Bihar in Northern India.

Bihar is, after Uttar Pradesh, the most densely inhabited state in India. Its population is larger than Germany and Austria together although it only occupies an area equivalent to half the size of Germany. This state, whose name comes from the Sanscrit word vihara (monastery), has countless Buddhist monuments and historical sites, including Bodh Gaya, where Buda reached enlightenment some 2,500 years ago.

Aldea de Harli

In contrast with this glorious past, Bihar today is submerged in unprecedented economic turmoil and social tension, making it is one of the Indian states with the highest crime rates. This is compounded by the fact that Bihar has the lowest literacy and income per capital rates in India, despite the fact that it is the most mineral-rich state in the country (comprising 40% of India’s total mineral production). Moreover, as occurs in the other states in India, the population is divided into casts in accordance with the ancestral system. In this system the dalit (the untouchables) occupy the lowest rung of the social ladder. The dalit account for 15% of the population of the state, but own less than 2% of farmland.

abuela

This inequality causes social tensions that lead to frequent clashes between landowners and the dalit labourers, who are deprived of lands. Active resistance started in the 1960s when members of the dalit caste began to join Maoist groups.

And sadly, regardless of the ruling political party, the government seems to be powerless to put an end thirty years of violence.

equipo IRDT

The local headquarters of the Integral Rural Development Trust (IRDT) are in Bodghaya. The organisation is directed by Sankhar Jee and comprises a team of more than 30 people who are coordinated by different area leaders:

  • Pawan: Head of Education
  • Narendra Pandey: Head of agriculture and construction
  • Nitu baba: Head of accounting-spending control
  • Dr Sunil: Head of Healthcare together with Meera and Nittu chandra
  • Nittu Chandra: Head of the sewing and textile-painting workshop