Category Archives: Policy and Development

Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh): Santosh* had always been prepared for his father’s death. Yet when the day came, the 36-year-old found himself questioning his own identity. Santosh’s father had a long battle with a respiratory disease, a professional hazard of being a sanitation worker – a job that Santosh’s father did for 50 long years until he passed away in 2015.

Shweta* got married last year, and as is the case for most people, it was a day that she would never forget. Marriages are supposed to be joyous occasions but Shweta spent most of her wedding day worrying about the final ritual she would be forced to face the following night – the regressive virginity test. “I hope I bleed,” she muttered to herself, thinking about the gruesome and arduous hours of physical training she had put in for her police recruitment tests. Would it have left her hymen intact?

40-year-old Shwetha* suffers from acute leukaemia. Her doctor says that she needs a bone marrow transplant, else the chances of her survival are next to none. Battling a life-threatening disease, Shwetha* hopes to find a suitable donor to be able to live her life normally. She soon finds out that her sister, Smita is a perfect match and the doctors encourage her to donate the marrow. 

Three years ago, exactly 5 months after my 18th birthday, I walked into a small, dingy room in a crowded part of Saharanpur, a small town in Western Uttar Pradesh. Making my way up a shabby staircase, I saw heaps of people come down. From businessmen to farmers and labourers, each one seemed content and hopeful, discussing the now so-close-you-could-touch-it Achhe Din, because they had enrolled for the Aadhar Card. Least bothered with the ‘whats and whys’ of Aadhar I simply went and stood in line impatiently on the command of my mother who thought I should get done with the formality.