Thursday, 05 June 2025 / Published in Samavesh Center, Samavesh Fellows, Stories of Change
By Vaibhav Dhotre, Samavesh Fellow I belong to the Vadar community—one of Maharashtra’s Nomadic and Denotified Tribes (VJ NT). Traditionally stone quarry workers and earth diggers, the Vadars have been historically pushed to the margins—geographically, economically, and socially. Our community has long faced stigma, displacement, and systemic neglect, with limited access to education, stable livelihoods,
Thursday, 05 June 2025 / Published in Samavesh Center, Samavesh Fellows, Stories of Change
By Sandeep Kamble, Samavesh Fellow Introduction Every year, thousands of government scholarships meant for marginalized students remain unclaimed—not because of disinterest or ineligibility, but due to a systemic gap in documentation and awareness. As a first-generation learner from a rural part of Parbhani district in Maharashtra, I experienced this firsthand. My own education was nearly
Thursday, 05 June 2025 / Published in Samavesh Center, Samavesh Fellows, Stories of Change
By Pratik Ingale As someone who is visually impaired, I’ve spent much of my life navigating a world that often wasn’t built for me—be it classrooms without screen readers, buses without announcements, or systems that ask you to “attach photocopies” when you cannot even see the form. I grew up in Pune district, and though
Thursday, 05 June 2025 / Published in After-School Program, Stories of Change
By Vaishali Jadhav, Educator & Learning Facilitator When I stepped into the ROSHINI After-School classroom, what struck me wasn’t the noise or chatter—it was the quiet. A kind of cautious silence I’ve come to recognize. It wasn’t the absence of curiosity. It was the fear of getting it wrong in front of others. Most of
Thursday, 05 June 2025 / Published in After-School Program, Stories of Change
By Sidharth Hendre, Life Skills Facilitator & Youth Development Practitioner In all my years working across diverse geographies—from the hills of the North East with Pratham, to urban schools through the American India Foundation, to community-led innovation at Goonj—I’ve learned one thing: no education is complete without life skills. Reading and writing are critical, yes.
Thursday, 05 June 2025 / Published in After-School Program, Stories of Change
By Deepali Kshirsagar, Life Skills & Career Educator, Mental Health Practitioner It was a warm afternoon when I walked into the Samavesh Center where I lead the After-School Program in Bhosari. The room was buzzing—not with noise, but with a quiet intensity. You could feel it in the way the children sat: alert, curious, and
Thursday, 05 June 2025 / Published in Samavesh Champions, Stories of Change
“Play, Power, and Possibility”: My Journey as a Samavesh Fellow Using Sport for Social Change By Anil Kale, Samavesh Fellow My mother was one of the first members of a waste pickers’ collective in Pune. Growing up, I witnessed the struggles faced by children of waste pickers—bright, full of potential, yet often denied access to
Wednesday, 04 June 2025 / Published in Samavesh Scholars, Stories of Change
by Siddhant Maitreya ( Samavesh Scholar) Masters of Public Administration (MPA), London School of Economics | Recipient, Indian Government Overseas Scholarship Where I Come From My name is Siddhant Maitreya. I come from a marginalised family navigating generations of exclusion and agrarian poverty. My father moved to Pune for work and raised me on a modest
Wednesday, 04 June 2025 / Published in Samavesh Scholars, Stories of Change
By Samadhan Galande, Samavesh Scholar Young India Fellow, Ashoka University Where I Come From I was born and raised in a drought-prone village in the Dharashiv district of Marathwada, Maharashtra. This region faces some of the harshest conditions in the state—frequent droughts, farmer suicides, and deep systemic neglect. My family worked as small-scale farmers. When