top of page

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.

The BJP’s urban playbook

Mumbai’s civic verdict which saw the Thackerays’ being dethroned signals a national turn from dynasty to delivery, unsettling India’s regional satraps

New Delhi: The election result to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the richest civic body in India, which saw the fall of the Thackeray clan has not merely reshaped Maharashtra’s politics but sent tremors across India’s federal map.

The BJP–Shinde Shiv Sena alliance secured 118 of the 227 seats, ending the Thackeray family’s 25-year grip over the city’s civic empire. The BJP alone won 89 wards, polling 11,79,273 votes, which translated into 45.22 percent of the winners’ vote share and 21.58 percent of the overall turnout. This surpassed its 2017 tally of 82 seats and marked the party’s most decisive urban triumph in western India.


Institutional Backbone

For a quarter of a century, the BMC was the institutional spine of Thackeray power, funding patronage networks and reinforcing a politics rooted in kinship and cultural assertion. That edifice has now cracked. Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) slumped to 65 seats, a collapse that reflects not merely factional splits but a deeper exhaustion with a style of politics that seemed increasingly indifferent to everyday civic failures. Devendra Fadnavis’ Mahayuti alliance tapped into this frustration by projecting governance over political pedigree.


What makes Mumbai’s verdict resonate nationally is its timing. Almost simultaneously, the BJP staged a breakthrough in Kerala’s local elections, capturing 50 of 101 wards in Thiruvananthapuram and installing V.V. Rajesh as mayor - its first in the state capital in 45 years. The Left Democratic Front was reduced to 29 wards and the Congress-led United Democratic Front to 19. In two very different cities, voters appeared to reward a narrative of administrative competence and anti-corruption over ideological lineage. The BJP, long caricatured as a north-Indian force, has begun to nationalise its local-body playbook.

The lesson from Mumbai is stark. Urban electorates, especially the middle class, are becoming less sentimental and more transactional. For over two decades, the BMC functioned as a symbol of Marathi pride and familial continuity. Yet when potholes and floods became annual rituals, pride curdled into impatience. The electorate’s punishment was swift. Such behaviour suggests a maturing urban voter, willing to dispense with entrenched elites when delivery falters.


Wider Implications

These signals are being keenly watched in West Bengal, which heads to a crucial Assembly poll in April this year. Mumbai’s outcome arms the BJP with a tested template to challenge Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in urban centres such as Kolkata. The party’s 2021 assembly performance had already demonstrated its urban appeal. Civic failures, scandals and a fraying Congress–Left understanding offer further openings. Welfare schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar continue to secure rural loyalty for Banerjee, but cities are less forgiving. The BJP’s experience in Mumbai suggests that competence, and not confrontation, may be the sharper weapon.


The ripple effects extend southwards. Tamil Nadu’s 2026 contest pits the ruling DMK against an opposition that may yet coalesce. The AIADMK, weakened but still the principal challenger, is flirting with a renewed alliance with the NDA. Its 20 percent vote share in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, combined with the BJP’s 11 percent could, on paper, threaten M.K. Stalin’s coalition, which polled around 27 percent. A swing of 5 percent would be enough to imperil the DMK in urban centres such as Chennai, particularly amid persistent allegations of graft. Yet, internal feuds within the AIADMK and the rise of actor Vijay’s political outfit dilute opposition unity, limiting the BJP’s reach despite its urban pitch.


Kerala’s verdict reinforces the broader pattern. Anti-corruption appeals and development-first messaging have shown themselves to be portable, even in states long resistant to the BJP. Still, cultural and social divides impose limits. The party’s advances are incremental rather than transformative. Regional heavyweights such as the TMC and DMK may suffer morale shocks, but they retain deep-rooted organisational strength and emotive narratives.


Even so, Mumbai’s civic upheaval marks a turning point. It suggests that India’s urban voters are increasingly willing to judge parties as service providers rather than cultural custodians. For the BJP, the BMC offers a replicable model: alliances stitched pragmatically, campaigns anchored in delivery, and an appeal tailored to middle-class anxieties. For the opposition within the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, it is a warning. Welfare populism without administrative credibility may no longer suffice.

 


Comments

bottom of page