PARI Team

large_FEATURE_FACES_NY_roundup_2023_updated.png

medium_FEATURE_FACES_NY_roundup_2023_updated.png

small_FEATURE_FACES_NY_roundup_2023_updated.png

thumbnail_FEATURE_FACES_NY_roundup_2023_updated.png

FEATURE_FACES_NY_roundup_2023_updated.png

Our <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/categories/faces/">FACES</a> project aims to map the facial and occupational diversity of our country. It is a meticulously gathered and maintained district and village-level database of people’s faces and livelihoods, now running into thousands.

This year FACES has ventured into 53 new blocks. In Dubrajpur block of Birbhum district in West Bengal, for instance, where our contributor met <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/categories/faces/b/samir-pathak/">Samir Pathak</a>, a retired postman. We also added people from the following Adivasi communities: Kanikkar, Malhar, Koli, Paniyan, Kattunayakan, Malai Arayan, Adiyan and Bodo. Initially
many students took to the project as a way to connect with and document rural
India through photographs. Over
the years, our contributors – the majority of whom continue to be students –
have photographed people from different blocks of different districts across
the country.  Faces
aims to document portraits of at least one adult male, one
adult female and one child or adolescent from each block of every district of a
state. Beyond
rural India, this project documents the faces of migrant labourers in urban
settings as well.

Atraye Adhikary

Meet <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/categories/faces/a/sumangala/">Sumangala</a>, one
of the four coir workers from the Haripad block of
Alappuzha district in Kerala – one
of the new occupations featured in Faces this year. The
details about her tell us that women are not just homemakers in rural India –
they work in the fields, sell fish and vegetables, stitch, weave and knit. In
short, they are multitaskers.

With students being the majority
of contributors, it comes as no surprise that this year, students have been the
most-featured in Faces. From
Mawphlang block (another first this year) in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, we meet <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/categories/faces/e/nobika-khasain/">Nobika Khasain</a>, a student of Class 9 and a traditional Khasi dancer. “I
love dressing up in our traditional clothes,&quot; says Nobika, &quot;even
if it takes time to set up before every dance [performance].&quot; If the work we do interests you and you would like to contribute to PARI, please write to us at contact@ruralindiaonline.org. We welcome freelance and independent writers, reporters, photographers, film makers, translators, editors, illustrators, teachers and researchers to work with us. PARI is a not-for-profit and we rely on donations from people who appreciate our multilingual online journal and archive. If you would like to donate to PARI, please click on <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/pages/donate/">DONATE</a>.

In 2023: more than just a FACE

سال ۲۰۲۳: ملک کے تنوع کو پیش کرتے چہرے

2023: முகங்களைக் கடந்து…

2023: ਸਾਡੇ ਫੇਸ ਪ੍ਰੋਜੈਕਟ ਦੇ ਬੋਲਦੇ ਚਿਹਰੇ

୨୦୨୩ରେ: କେବଳ ‘ଚେହେରା’ ନୁହେଁ, ଆହୁରି କେତେ କ’ଣ

2023-ൽ: ഒരു മുഖത്തിനുമപ്പുറം

2023: ಮುಖವೆಂದರೆ ಎದೆಯ ಕನ್ನಡಿಯಷ್ಟೇ ಅಲ್ಲ

साल 2023: देश की विविधता की सूरत

2023માં: ચહેરા પાછળ ચહેરા

2023: सिरिफ चेहरा नईं, आइना घलो

2023: देस के बिबिधता के चेहरा बनल पारी

২০২৩: মুখ তো নয় শুধু – জ্যান্ত একখানা আয়না

বৰ্ষ ২০২৩: পাৰি ফেচে’ছৰ প্ৰতিখন মুখেই বৈচিত্ৰময় ভাৰতৰ অভিব্যক্তি

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


Let’s get you acquainted

Welcome to PARI

All our content is, and will forever be free to consume. If you enjoy our work, you can support us by becoming a volunteer or by donating to help fund our work.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

IN TELUGU - Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

In 2023: more than just a FACE

Adivasi communities, farmers in Birbhum, West Bengal and coir workers in Alappuzha, Kerala, are just some of the additions we have this year

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit