 "Tribals are becoming a minority in their own state!" Jharkhand, a natural resource, mineral -rich region is sadly, also rich in the ways and kinds of exploitation against tribal societies that live in these regions. Dayamani Barla's is an inspiring story of a tribal woman who decided to stand up and campaign for issues that continue to erase, erode and impoverish tribal societies in Jharkhand in the name of development. Dayamani, educated at the Ranchi University, has been writing articles in Hindi in regular newspapers and magazines like Prabhat Khabhar for the last ten years. Her writings powerfully articulate the exploitation faced by tribal communities, especially women. She strongly believes that by taking the voices of the tribal communities to the common public on issues of tribal women's empowerment, health, local self-governance and on Government's Tribal policies, common people can be made aware of the real situations on the ground and thus participate and influence development policies in the right direction. She has been a powerful campaigner working shoulder-to-shoulder with the community on different issues ranging from eviction of tribals due to the Koel Karo Project, hazards of Uranium mining to forced prostitution of tribal women. A recipient of the Counter Media Award for better rural journalism(2000) and the National Foundation for India Fellowship (2004), Dayamani runs a local tea-shop for a regular living which she claims is also one of the best places to listen to the voices of the people! Click here to learn more about Dayamani Barla | |||
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