Film

The film addresses the Barber’s issue in Orissa, India. The Barber community, as the lowest caste in the Indian social structure, still faces the social discrimination on all levels of society. The film presents the voices of the Barber people, as they advocate against their repressiveness in India. It is a story of struggle and suffering, situated in the context of age-old discriminatory practices still present in modern India.

This documentary tells the story of the Hawker workers of Pune, a city in Maharashtra in Western India. These people have migrated from their native villages in order to earn a decent living in the city. Yet, even in urban areas, employment is difficult to attain and migrants barely earn enough money to make ends meet. They work long and hard days, but are easy targets of the police and the Pune Municipal Corporation, who try to prevent them from making a decent living. This film captures their struggles to work on the roadsides and to lead a dignified life.

India possesses an array of committed social activists working with various sections of marginalized communities such as dalits, tribals, women, children, minorities, and unorganized workers. They have used different components of advocacy – spanning from media documentation to judicial intervention – in order to creatively assert for people’s rights. This documentary draws upon the experiences of social activists who have been engaged in advocacy, bringing together the perspectives and practices of social justice activists throughout India. The documentary develops an understanding of advocacy – its forms and strategies – in order to initiate a discussion on the idea of ‘People Centred Advocacy’.

People all over the country have begun to realise that they need to unite and raise their voice together so as to be able to fight for their rights. This film shows one such initiative where the people are fighting for gaining access to their rights and the request that the activists make that everyone should get involved and should not refrain from joining any movements as only when the numbers are large the impact of the protest would be far reaching and long lasting and just participation and involvement is enough to make a protest successful and impactful.

This film is an attempt to advocate for the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. It aims to strengthen the movement for the Implementation of NREGA and the Right to Work by giving insights into Maharashtra’s effective implementation of the Employment Guarantee Scheme.