Isolated agrarian communities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu were hard hit by the pandemic, experiencing increased poverty, the diversion of savings toward healthcare, and prolonged illness, forcing families to pull their daughters out of school and marry them off. Years later, attendance rates haven't recovered, and child marriages haven't subsided.
In most present-day Igbo communities, caste ranking is a core concern for both families and couples.
After a scathing experience in one of India's top media houses, Meena Kotwal, a Dalit journalist, founded The Mooknayak, an independent online media outlet that reports on caste oppression and systemic violence against marginalized communities across India.
Sanitation work in India still involves illegal manual labor, with as many as 1.3 million Indians from certain caste groups employed as 'manual scavengers,' who load waste onto baskets or metal troughs to carry off for disposal. Not only is the work detrimental to their long-term health, but it’s also a cause for inhumane discrimination, which not only affects how they’re treated out in society but also their pursuit of alternative livelihoods.















