Passing on the details of the Indicorps Fellowship 2012. A great opportunity for young people who are passionate about social change and working on grassroots level projects.
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The toughest Fellowship program in India invites dedicated individuals of Indian origin who are willing to challenge themselves to serve with humility and pride. If you are ready to test your mettle, your worth, your purpose, come apply. Are you ready to put all you have got on the line? We are looking for individuals who can shoulder multiple responsibilities with excellence. Individuals, who …

‘Kattunayaka’ as bifurcated and translated in Tamil means forest hero. Chellan belongs to this very caste group, which is one of the prominent communities among the primitive tribes of Nilgiri. His village called Tangamalai falls into the lower plateau of Nilgiri district of Tamilnadu. Chellan roughly calculates his age around fifty as his parents never really kept track of the date and year of his birth, though he was their only child.
The people of the Kattunayaka community have inhabited the rain forests of Nilgiri for centuries. They were mainly hunters …

This is a story of Chhotu. His name contradicts his age, but not his identity. Even after being around for fifty decades, according to him, he is still a child who finds peace sleeping in Mother Nature’s lap. One often comes across some people who are extraordinarily disciplined in their life and routine. Chhotu strives to be one of them, waking up at 4 a.m. every morning; irrespective of the scorching heat or freezing cold (both of which occur more commonly in Rajasthan than one might think). He religiously sleeps …

At Grassroutes, at the end of every fellowship period, we have made a conscious effort to assess the impact of the fellowship on the fellow. The fellowship is aimed to sensitize the fellow about the rural sector, the challenges faced, and opportunities available and to be able to play a tangible part in bringing about systemic change in the form of a project each fellow works on. For the 2011 edition, we explored a Quantitative as well as a Qualitative approach to tap the impact of the fellow.
For …

Intro
It was that time of the year again for the youth of this country to be a part of an extraordinary journey. A journey that takes them deep in to rural India to work with rural organisations; to discover the change maker within; to explore and discover new places; to don the role of a social journalist documenting stories of hope, innovation, passion, development, entrepreneurship at the grassroots level.
The blog post summarizes the 2011 edition of the Grassroutes Fellowship Program and establishes the road map leading into the 2012.
Prelude
Grassroutes in …

Lost in Music: Hari Govindan sings a traditional “Sopana Sangeetham” for us.

“Right now there are a lot of concrete structures here. But I want the art to make this place come alive”, says Hari Govindanan the founder of a Kala Ashram, in the small village of Angadippuram in the Palghat district of Kerala. Surrounding the ashram are small buildings, all dedicated to the teaching and performance of music. Far from the hustle and bustle of the town center, this is an ideal place for art to flourish. And that is …

Devagi, aged about 50, gets up at 5 A.M. and walks across the village to collect fallen coconut tree leaves. She rushes back by 7 A.M. to send her 3 kids to school. She then has to draw water from the public taps before it runs out, have a quick breakfast and then sit down to make roofs and fences for houses, with all the coconut tree leaves that she has collected. It does not end there. She then has to leave for construction work at a nearby site. So, …

 
“Why has ‘Chirag’ given a Chaff cutter to the Sarpanch and not to me,” asked Mohan Da, a farmer based in Chaukhuta, a small village in Uttarakhand, India. Being a volunteer with ‘Chirag’ (an Uttarakhand based NGO) for less than a week, I struggled to come up with a suitable reply. A voice from behind came to my rescue, “Chirag tries to find solutions to our common problems, not answer them for all of us,” it said. The wise man introduced himself as Kishen Da.
As our interaction progressed, I came …

by Swetha SB
Think about this – you have a lovely house and a great community around it. All your life you have lived in the same place. Suddenly, one day a few strangers along with a government official come and tell you that you will have to leave your house and land. They tell you that they have made new flats for everyone in your community, but you must give up your old home and land. They offer you some money for your land and they tell you that you …

The Rural Rock-stars. An unforgettable experience performing traditional folk songs with the community owned folk troupe. A privilege to have played with troupe for the village community.
This summer go rock the world! Apply for the Grassroutes Fellowship Program 2011
Host NGO: Vayali Folklore Group    | Photo Courtesy: Sri Ranganathan, Grassroutes Fellow 2010