In Chilla Khadar, an urban village close to Mayur Vihar Phase I, live many families who pull cycle rickshaws, work as domestic helpers, clean up the streets and sell vegetables at the mandi . They survive with the help of generators and tube wells. The government, some residents say, has yet to give them electricity and water. Their children attend makeshift schools in the open or under thatched-roof huts because the government school is far away and hard to reach without a pucca road.

Despite their own hardships,  many of them got together in support of farmers and labourers from across India who are demanding a special 21-day session of Parliament to discuss the agrarian crisis; their march in Delhi is today and tomorrow.  Listen to the voices of the people of Chilla Khadar.

Aditya Dipankar

Aditya Dipankar is a Mumbai-based musician and designer.

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Subuhi Jiwani

Subuhi Jiwani is a writer and video-maker based in Mumbai. She was a senior editor at PARI from 2017 to 2019.

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Text Editor : Sharmila Joshi

Sharmila Joshi is former Executive Editor, People's Archive of Rural India, and a writer and occasional teacher.

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