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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.

Women’s Verdict, Modi’s Momentum

A surge in female turnout and a fractured opposition deliver the NDA a sweeping mandate and bury Bihar’s old spectre of jungle raj


Patna: A powerful combination of record female turnout, a fractured opposition and voter preference for stability propelled the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to a sweeping victory in the Bihar Assembly election results on Friday.


Years of targeted welfare for women, coupled with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign pull and Nitish Kumar’s reputation for orderly governance, crystallised into a decisive mandate for the BJP-JD (U) led NDA.

In stark contrast, the opposition Mahagathbandhan led by Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD, hobbled by infighting and an incoherent message, collapsed to a little over 30 seats while the NDA surged past 200 – echoing its landslide win of 2010.


The 2025 election was remarkable not merely for its outcome but for its mechanics. Turnout had reached an unprecedented 67 percent with women voting at staggering levels – 72 percent, roughly ten percentage points higher than men. For the first time, no booth required repolling, a rarity in a state once synonymous with intimidation and fraud. For the fifth time, Kumar secured the Chief Minister’s office, buoyed by female voters whose loyalty has only deepened after 18 years of his stewardship.


The NDA’s parties - the BJP, the Janata Dal (United), the Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) and the Hindustan Awam Party - swept across the state’s cultural and linguistic belts, from Magadh and Shahabad to Angika, Mithilanchal, Tirhut and Seemanchal. The Mahagathbandhan comprising the RJD, Congress, Left parties and VIP was routed in each of these belts.


Key electorate

Women were the fulcrum of this realignment. Since 2005, a cocktail of welfare schemes, prohibition, expanded livelihoods through the ‘Didis’ and a nudge towards entrepreneurship has steadily detached women from memories of the lawlessness once tagged as jungle raj. The NDA’s slogans, including ‘Badhiya to hain Nitish Kumar,’ found their most enthusiastic audience among them. Wherever Modi campaigned, his rallies turned into consolidating machines.


Voters also rewarded continuity as Nitish Kumar’s claims of good governance and steady development resonated more strongly than the RJD’s attempts to revive anxieties about their past. The RJD’s aggressive counter-narrative merely reminded voters, especially women, of the years when physical insecurity was routine. Migrant women in particular recoiled from any hint of that era returning. Some younger voters flirted with Tejashwi Yadav’s promise of a government job for every household, but the broader youth electorate dismissed it as implausible and instead favoured the NDA’s pledges of industrial expansion.


The opposition’s disarray compounded its woes. Seat-sharing quarrels among alliance partners led to ‘friendly contests’ in at least 11 constituencies including Kahalgaon and Bachhwara in which the Mahagathbandhan failed to win a single seat. The Congress and the Left were sidelined by an RJD intent on maximising its own tally, resulting in lethal self-sabotage.


Rahul Gandhi added to the alliance’s burdens. His attempts to stoke fears of ‘vote theft’ came a cropper and his messaging on OBC issues rang hollow in a state ruled for decades by leaders from those very communities. A poorly timed foreign trip and a clumsy remark about Chhath - one of Bihar’s most sacred festivals - further alienated voters. His rhetorical ‘hydrogen bomb’ misfired, leaving the Congress with just one seat.


The Mahagathbandhan’s caste calculus, once its bedrock, was dismantled by voters who backed NDA candidates even in areas dominated by Yadavs and Muslims. Tejashwi Yadav himself faced an uncomfortably tight contest. Against this, the NDA’s cohesion and methodical alliance-building looked positively managerial. The win signals a decisive mandate delivered by electorate, which clearly privileged welfare and development over caste arithmetic, religious sentiment and nostalgia for strongmen.

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