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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.

Ripples before BMC elections

Congress solo threat rattles MVA

Mumbai: The unilateral decision of the state Congress to contest the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently has apparently rattled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) main allies and smaller parties, with hectic backstage politicking underway.

 

Barely a week after AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala’s terse announcement, supported vociferously by Mumbai unit chief Varsha Gaikwad, there are indications of the other parties considering counter-moves – to convince the Congress on a re-think.

 

The grand old party’s virtual threat not only unnerved the Nationalist Congress Party (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT) and their allies, but also the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), at which eyebrows are being raised for the purported discord in the MVA.

 

The Congress this week reached out to NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar to join hands, and the latter is reportedly keen for a broader Opposition alliance that includes the MNS.

 

Congress insiders claim that internal surveys have not exactly painted a rosy picture for the MVA’s prospects in the BMC polls for 227 Wards, unnerving most parties even before the poll schedules are declared by the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC).

 

A worse scenario could be, the sentiments may reflect across the other important municipal corporations that will go to the hustings along with BMC, adding to the gloom in the opposition camps, they caution.

 

Political sources deny that any so-called ‘conditional offer’ has been made to the SS (UBT) to dump MNS - if it wants the Congress ‘hand’ behind it – as reported in some sections.

 

Rubbishing such theories, MNS Spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande guardedly said that “we are an independent party and all our decisions are taken by the party President Raj Thackeray”.

 

Reiterating that the MNS is not a constituent of the MNS, Desphande also said the party is not concerned about which leader met whom or they said what about MNS, as any final call on a poll deal would be taken only after deliberations between Raj and Uddhav Thackeray.

 

As per current indications, the Congress will actively explore tie-ups with several Dalit, peasants, workers and minority parties/groups - though the Samajwadi Party (SP) has said it may chart a solo path – to avoid vote-split as well as safeguard the Congress’s 140-year-old ideology.

 

“We are not affected by claims made by anyone from any party. We shall abide by the decisions of the party high command, which was made clear last week. The party will follow it to the hilt,” a Mumbai Congress leader told ‘The Perfect Voice’.

 

Congress leaders continue to be apprehensive over the MNS’ old violent campaigns against north Indians and minorities which may haunt it in the civic polls, and possibly mar the chances of the opposition, already reeling under a crisis of survival after back-to-back political reverses in three state assembly polls.

Meanwhile, the MVA allies continued to slam the ruling MahaYuti on various counts. Chiefly, the recent flying visits by the two Deputy CMs, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, the failing law-and-order against the recent rape-cum-murder of a minor girl in Malegaon, and the alleged suicide of a college student after he was assaulted for speaking in Hindi. 

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