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By:

Shoumojit Banerjee

27 August 2024 at 9:57:52 am

Classroom of Courage

In drought-scarred Maharashtra, a couple’s experiment in democratic schooling is turning child beggars into model citizens In the parched stretches of Maharashtra, from Solapur to the drought-hit villages of Marathwada, a modest social experiment has quietly unfolded for nearly two decades. It is neither a grand government scheme nor a corporate-backed charity. Since 2007, the Ajit Foundation, founded by Mahesh and Vinaya Nimbalkar, has worked with children living at the sharpest edges of...

Classroom of Courage

In drought-scarred Maharashtra, a couple’s experiment in democratic schooling is turning child beggars into model citizens In the parched stretches of Maharashtra, from Solapur to the drought-hit villages of Marathwada, a modest social experiment has quietly unfolded for nearly two decades. It is neither a grand government scheme nor a corporate-backed charity. Since 2007, the Ajit Foundation, founded by Mahesh and Vinaya Nimbalkar, has worked with children living at the sharpest edges of society in Maharashtra. The foundation has become a home for out-of-school children, those who have never enrolled, the children of migrant labourers and single parents, and those who scavenge at garbage dumps or drift between odd jobs. To call their foundation an “NGO” is to miss the point. Vinaya Nimbalkar describes it as a “democratic laboratory”, where education is not merely instruction but an initiation into citizenship. The couple were once government schoolteachers with the Solapur Zilla Parishad, leading stable lives. Yet what they witnessed unsettled them: children who had never held a pencil, begging at traffic signals or sorting refuse for a living. Prompted by this reality, the Nimbalkars resigned their jobs to work full-time for the education of such children. Leap of Faith They began modestly, teaching children in migrant settlements in Solapur and using their own salaries to pay small honorariums to activists. Funds soon ran dry, and volunteers drifted away. Forced out of their home because of their commitment to the cause, they started a one-room school where Vinaya, Mahesh, their infant son Srijan and forty children aged six to fourteen lived together as an unlikely family. The experiment later moved to Barshi in the Solapur district with support from Anandvan. Rural hardship, financial uncertainty and the pandemic repeatedly tested their resolve. At one stage, they assumed educational guardianship of nearly 200 children from families that survived by collecting scrap on the village outskirts. Eventually, the foundation relocated to Talegaon Dabhade near Pune, where it now runs a residential hostel. Twenty-five children currently live and study there. The numbers may seem modest, but the ambition is not. Democracy in Practice What distinguishes the Ajit Foundation is not only who it serves but also how it operates. Within its walls, democracy is practised through a Children’s Gram Panchayat and a miniature Municipal Council elected by the children themselves. Young candidates canvass, hold meetings and present their budgets. Children maintain accounts and share decisions about chores, activities and certain disciplinary matters. In a country where democratic culture is often reduced to voting, the foundation’s approach is quietly radical. It treats children from marginalised backgrounds as citizens in formation. The right to choose — whether to focus on sport, cooking, mathematics or cultural activities — is respected. “We try never to take away what is their own,” says Vinaya Nimbalkar. Rather than forcing every child into a uniform academic mould, individual abilities are encouraged. A boy skilled in daily calculations may not be pushed into hours of bookish study; a girl who excels in cooking may lead the kitchen team. For children who have known only precarity, standing for election, managing a budget or speaking at a meeting can be transformative. On International Women’s Day, the foundation seeks visibility not just for praise but for partnership. If you are inspired by their mission, consider supporting or collaborating—your involvement can help extend opportunities to more children in need.

From muscle-flexing to rationalising

The council polls reset Mahayuti’s power balance

Mumbai: The recently concluded Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat elections have delivered a sobering "reality check" for Maharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti alliance. While the BJP emerged as the single largest force, bagging approximately 100 Nagar Palikas and 30 Nagar Panchayats, the results have fundamentally altered the internal power dynamics between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.


On paper, the BJP’s performance is dominant. The party’s haul is more than double that of its closest allies, providing CM Devendra Fadnavis with significant political leverage. However, the internal mood within the BJP remains "disturbed."


Sources indicate that internal surveys had projected the party winning 200 out of 256 Chairperson seats that it contested on its own party symbol. Even after the first phase, estimates were pegged at 175. Finishing below the 130-mark suggests that the BJP’s "micro-management" strategy failed to account for the tenacity of regional strongmen. Despite this "inflated claim" being exposed, the sheer volume of seats won allows the BJP to maintain its "Big Brother" status within the alliance.


Bargaining Power

The most immediate impact of these results is the dilution of the bargaining power previously held by Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and Ajit Pawar (NCP). Earlier this month, both Deputy CMs had engaged in visible "muscle-flexing," demanding a larger share of seats for the upcoming 29 Municipal Corporation elections.


With the BJP now holding a commanding lead in the rural and semi-urban hinterlands, the Shinde and Pawar factions are being forced to "rationalize" their demands. CM Fadnavis has already signalled that these results are a precursor to the Corporation polls, effectively telling his partners that seat-sharing formulas will now be dictated by "ground reality" rather than political posturing.


Regional Defiance

Despite the BJP's overall dominance, the results highlighted critical vulnerabilities in the party’s armour, like the Shinde Factor in Nashik, where the BJP laid claim to several seats but Shinde’s Shiv Sena delivered a "surprise" performance, outperforming expectations and proving that his faction retains a grassroots base independent of the BJP.


Similarly, the NCP kept its bastions intact. Ajit Pawar’s NCP demonstrated continued supremacy in Western Maharashtra and showed resilience in parts of Marathwada. These localized victories provide the NCP with a shield against a total BJP hegemony within the alliance.


The Municipal Council results serve as a strategic "galvanising" force for the Mahayuti. While the BJP has been humbled by its own high expectations, and the allies have been forced to lower theirs, the alliance now has a clearer map of its collective strengths and weaknesses.Political analysts suggest that the internal friction over seat-sharing for the 29 Municipal Corporations – including the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) – will likely settle into a more pragmatic arrangement. The BJP is expected to use its "mammoth" numbers to claim the lion's share of seats, but the "surprising" performance of Shinde in Nashik and Pawar in Marathwada ensures that the junior partners cannot be ignored entirely.


As the state shifts its focus to the "Mega-Battle" of the Corporations, the Mahayuti enters the fray with a bruised ego but a clarified hierarchy. For the BJP, the goal is to bridge the gap between "claims and reality," while for Shinde and Pawar, the mission is to protect their remaining turf from their own ally’s expansionist ambitions.


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