CONVERTING CORONA CRISIS INTO OPPORTUNITY FOR CORDIAL LIVING: A CASE OF CIVIL SOCIETY INTERVENTION, INDIA

- Archana Kaushik, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi, Delhi; archana_kaushik@rediffmail.com

With the Nobel Peace Price of 2020 awarded to the World Food Programme, hunger and malnutrition are validated as few of the biggest challenges to community peace-building initiatives. The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the instances of starvation to significant levels, particularly among the Dalits, who have been one of the most vulnerable groups in the Indian society. The UNDP reports that every third Dalit in India is below poverty line. Untouchability, starvation, marginalization and social exclusion are severe manifestations of violation of their rights. With Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh as the site of engagement, the paper highlights the successful interventions carried out by a CSO – People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) to ensure food security among the downtrodden, starving Dalits.

Implications of lockdown, imposed to curb corona pandemic, have been severe on certain Dalit groups. Life came to a standstill, already meek livelihood options were snatched away making Dalit families strive hard to make both ends meet. Public Distribution System and other food security schemes stopped abruptly. Fear of starvation deaths loomed large. Their health emergencies and health needs remained unaddressed, owing to limiting structural factors along with pandemic situation.

In response, some of the noteworthy interventions by PVCHR have been awareness generation [their slogan was endorsed by the Prime Minister in ‘Mann ki baat’], tapping corporate sector for relief distribution, administrative advocacy [ensuring disbursement of cash, food-grains, soap, oil, etc.] by involving the Supreme Court, national and state human rights commissions, collaboration with upper-caste groups, elected leaders and political parties, signature-campaigns, media- advocacy to make the system accountable, along with conscientizing the Dalits to raise their concerns and building their capacities. These efforts were successful, to a great extent, in ensuring food-security and wellbeing of the Dalits and paved way to an environment of collaborative, cordial living of different caste-groups.

Key words: Dalit, food security, starvation, advocacy, caste, social exclusion, human rights

Introduction

The much deserved award of the Nobel Peace Price of 2020 to the World Food Programme, amidst COVID-19 pandemic, clearly captures that ‘peace’ is not a luxury and a utopian goal of humankind, but a basic human need and its attainment a basic human right. Peaceful communities are both a prerequisite as well as an outcome of fulfillment of basic human rights to its citizens.

Even centuries after the creation of Varna system that later took a distorted form of caste system, its deleterious effects are still visible in the villages of Varanasi, as in several other parts of the country. This traditional apartheid system has made the lives of Shudras (in the present times called Scheduled Castes or Dalits) no less than a nightmare. Caste discrimination has perpetuated social, educational and economic deprivations having multilayered consequences on the Dalits. They typically experience abuse, discrimination and social exclusion in various ways resulting in acute poverty, starvation deaths, limited access to education, health, and basic civic facilities. Despite execution of numerous poverty alleviation programmes, benefits hardly reached the impoverished Dalits. In rural India, Dalits have been in deplorable state for countless generations.

The existing COVID-19 pandemic has further deepened the already existing inequalities and vulnerabilities among the poor Dalits, accentuating their inaccessibility or limited accessibility to information and resource provisions to meet basic needs like food security, healthcare and livelihood opportunities.

In this backdrop, the present paper, as a part of an empirical action research, outlines the work of People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) with poor and Dalit families in the villages of Varanasi and nearby districts, amidst corona pandemic. PVCHR is an NGO that with its decades of concerted and consistent interventions in villages of Varanasi was able to make a dent on caste-based discriminations. The paper highlights the intervention process that not only brought noticeable positive changes towards the empowerment of the Dalits but also paved the way towards a peaceful, egalitarian and just social order, providing theoretical insights too.

Literature Review:

Research studies and secondary statistics depict appalling condition of the Dalits who constitute 17% (about 170 million) of the total population in India. Illiteracy rate among Dalits in India is 45% and 62.2% of rural Dalit women are illiterate and a-third of their children between 5 to 14 years attend school (NHRC, 2010). Musahars, a sub-group, are even more disadvantaged – 91% of them are illiterate and 98% of Musahar women are illiterate, less than 10% of their children enroll in school with nearly 100% dropout rate (Mahadalit Ayog, 2007). Further, 94% of Dalits are landless (Human Rights Watch, 2000) and 37% are living below poverty line (NHRC, 2012). Gandhi Peace Foundation and National Labour Institute survey (1979) note that 87% of bonded labourers are from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community.

Further, NHRC (2012) observe that Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) among Dalits is 83 per 1000 live births, 54% Dalit children are undernourished and 12% die before their 5^th birthday and merely 27% women avail institutional delivery. A mega study done in 565 villages of 11 states by Shah, Mander, Thorat, Deshpande and Baviskar (2006) show that in 38% of government schools Dalit children are made to sit separately in classes and during mid-day meal distribution; 35.8% Dalits are denied entry into village shops and 64% in temples and nearly 50% of them are denied access to common water sources and about 33% of health workers refuse to visit their houses. They further find that in one-fourth of the villages surveyed Dalits are paid lower wages and much delayed than others; 35% are not allowed to sell their produce in local markets and in varying degrees are barred from wearing clean, bright clothes, putting sunglasses, riding bicycles, unfurling umbrellas, wearing sandals on public roads, or even standing without head bowed. Many are humiliated and tortured by blackening their faces, being garlanded with shoes and forced to ride a donkey (Raghuvanshi, 2012). Moreover, NHRC (2012) observes that a crime is committed against a Dalit in every 18 minutes in India; every day three Dalit women are raped; two Dalits are murdered and two Dalits’ houses are burnt; and every week: 13 Dalits are murdered; and six Dalits are kidnapped or abducted.

During the corona pandemic, the caste based deprivations and discriminations have become gross. The Indian Express (August 21, 2020) cites the World Bank’s estimation that lockdown has pushed 12 million people, mainly from lower caste groups, into dismal poverty, many may never recover. Mehta calculates that due to COVID-19 situation, nearly one-third households (approx.60 million) are facing severe livelihood crisis and about 227 million households are in destitution. Qualitative data bring out the manifestations of caste discrimination as quarantined people in some places refused to have food cooked by lower caste staff and refusal to distribute relief material among the Dalits (The Print, August 21, 2020; Naskar, 2020).

Methodological and Theoretical Nuances

The literature review has revealed the depressing condition of Dalits that became worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ample research studies exhibit qualitative and quantitative data on various dimensions of vulnerabilities and disadvantages of the Dalits. However, negligible literature is available on the process of resilience, empowerment, and emancipation among the Dalits.

The present study, based on the action research, demonstrates the journey of awareness, reflection, conscientization, social action, advocacy and empowerment of the Dalits leading to harmonious and peaceful co-existence in a multi-caste community through the initiatives and interventions of a civil society initiative – People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR). Primarily Varanasi and the neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh, India are the sites of engagement. Relying on the critical theory approach, the philosophical base of the present research work aims to understand the structural and psychological factors leading to the oppression and exploitation of the Dalits and gain insights into the process of overcoming the barriers to empowerment and peace building, rather than merely using research knowledge as an end in itself.

The primary site of research is Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh, having a population of more than 36 lakhs living in 1360 villages. Out of the ten blocks, Pindara was selected to begin the work on the basis of high intensity of caste based deprivations manifested in local newspaper reports and anecdotal evidences.

The process of action research entails identifying particular villages, doing baseline survey, forming rapport with the primary and other stakeholders, locating challenges using tools and techniques of participatory rural appraisal and display of qualitative and quantitative data among the Dalit groups, participatory deliberations and discussions for reflection and concientization, helping the oppressed groups view the structural inequalities, discrimination and exploitation against them through the framework of human rights and social justice, designing and implementing action plan, feedback and evaluation.

Theoretically, two broad factors of powerlessness were identified among the Dalits - psychological and social. Internalization of caste identity and based on it sense of inferiority and unwillingness and apathy to raise voice against the injustice and rather justifying the oppressive practices of the upper caste cover the psychological domain of powerlessness. Extrinsic factors like restricted opportunities of meeting basic survival needs and development like health, education, livelihood manifested in poverty, skill deficiency, unemployment, starvation, marginalization and social exclusion, entail social barriers.

The intervention was planned on two prong domains – for addressing psychological barriers, based on the Freire’s conscientization model, PVCHR made use of dialogue initiation, critical thinking, reflection and conscientization for mobilizing the Dalits and administrative advocacy, networking with international and national human rights organizations, using social media platforms and print media, other social action strategies were employed to deal with the apathetic and unresponsive service delivery machinery.

Consistent and collaborative efforts in carrying out social action and conscientization exercises have given positive results in terms of ensuring rightful share and access to food security and healthcare, while blurring caste boundaries and paving way towards peaceful living. It also gives insights into learning and theorizing working models of Dalit empowerment and community peace building.

Findings

Jaitpur (name camouflaged) is a typical village of Varanasi where PVCHR began working since 2005. With a population of 4000, Jaitpur inhabits different caste groups including Thakurs and Brahmins, considered as upper caste groups and Nat, Rajbhar, Musahar, Patel, Chamar, etc., form Dalit groups. While the upper caste groups, in their lavish houses live at the centre of the village with all the civic amenities like health centre, schools, in close proximity, the ghettos of the Dalit groups are at the periphery with least civic facilities.

Appraising the vulnerabilities and deprivations of the Dalit groups, Rajbhars and Chamars are daily wagers and agricultural labourers and women work as domestic help in the houses of the upper caste; Musahars or ‘rat-eating community’ are the poorest and they try to make both ends meet by making and selling dona-pattal (bowls and plates made of leaves), rickshaw pulling, begging, working in fields and brick-kilns of the upper-caste owners. In a clandestine manner, Musahars, often, are into labour bondage. Nats are comparatively better off as they are involved in selling cows and buffalos, green grocery, snake charming, singing folk songs, etc. Few poor handloom weavers, professing Islam, also inhabit the village.

Dalit ghettos are generally comprised of tiny thatched structures of bricks and mud, with unhygienic surroundings, open defecation due to lack of toilets, with susceptibility to the outbreak of malaria, cholera, especially during monsoon. The poor Dalit families do not get the benefits through livelihood programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as the upper caste employers including surpanch (village head) do not want to let go off the cheap labour available for their private cultivation, factory and household work. Facing discrimination and aloofness from the healthcare staff, the Dalits, when sick, avoid accessing health centre and resort to quacks and ojha (practitioners of black magic). Many Dalits, the genuine claimants, do not have Below Poverty Line (BPL) card, a prerequisite for availing subsidized food grains under Public Distribution System and other pro-poor benefits and welfare services. The Dalit families, largely Musahars, have had experienced extreme form of abuse and torture as bonded labourers, starvation deaths mainly in Monsoon months when brick kiln is closed and they have nothing to eat.

Situation during Corona pandemic: With the announcement of lockdown as a measure to prevent and curb the spread of corona virus, most Dalit families faced accentuated deprivations and marginalization, heightening their struggle for survival. Vast majority of the Dalits encountered loss of livelihood and food insecurity as they earn and spend on daily basis, with hardly any savings for the rainy day. With restriction of movement and inability to go and work, many families are on the verge of starvation, with hardly any means to survive. They do not have cash to buy food grains and sustain life. There were many instances reported in the newspapers that Musahars are feeding their children chappatis made of Ankari grass and salt, the grass that is fed to the cattle. Some families are surviving on the left over food and discarded potatoes in the fields.

Interventions: The PVCHR has been working in several villages and blocks of the Varanasi district since almost two decades on Dalit empowerment and community peace building. During COVID-19 pandemic, the NGO carried out the interventions like relief distribution, networking with other stakeholders for collecting and disbursing provisions to meet basic needs of the disadvantaged, ensuring that government functionaries perform their duties without delays, biases and prejudices. PVCHR expanded its coverage and area of operation, with the following main components:

Preparatory work: The sudden imposition of the lockdown on 24^th March 2020 left everyone in the PVCHR team confused and unprepared. The challenge was huge - to deal with the crisis situation with the restriction to remain home-bound. Creative solutions emerged out of hours of brainstorming. The PVCHR staff made use of social media, mainly Whatsapp, to connect to the rural inhabitants during the lockdown period. Everyone in the staff was instructed to keep their phone with Internet connection handy round the clock.

Awareness generation and dispelling the myths: Though Government of India has taken ample steps to create awareness about COVID-19 symptoms and adherence of prevention norms, the PVCHR team apprehended that many Dalit families either may not have access to the information or face problem in grasping the message. Social (physical) distancing is a difficult proposition for the Dalits living in ghettos. Hand washing is also a luxury that many couldn’t afford. Wearing masks was beyond comprehension, even for many fieldworkers of PVCHR, in the initial times.

Through Whatsapp, the PVCHR created awareness about symptoms of corona virus infection and its preventive strategies. Moreover, bringing desired behaviour change is a knotty issue. For acceptance and understanding, the contents of the message were first modified into the local language and disseminated as audio and video clips to all the inhabitants having mobile phones. They were asked to spread the message in their neighbourhood. Some rural youth working as volunteers also circulated the messages in their respective communities. In the same way slogans in Bhojpuri and local dialects were created and spread. The Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi mentioned one such slogan, “dui gaj ki doori, hai bahut zaruri” (maintaining a distance of six feet is very essential) in ‘Mann ki baat’, radio programme. The children of the community, with whom the PVCHR has been working, played important role in reciting the slogans throughout the day so that the message is imbibed. The opinion leaders in the community were also involved in reinforcing the message of wearing masks, hand washing and keeping distance. With random phone calls to the villagers, the field staff of the NGO asked for reverse demonstration of the message propagated. This was crucial step to know if there are any communication gaps. The staff also received many calls to clarify doubts erupted due to rumours and myths associated with the COVID-19 infection.

Relief disbursement: Through Whatsapp and phone calls PVCHR took information about the ground realities from the field staff who are locals, volunteers, opinion leaders and other stakeholders. After taking permission from the authorities, based on the felt and perceived needs of the community, masks, soaps and dry ration were distributed to the poor needy families. This activity continued for the entire lockdown period.

In any pandemic like Corona, pregnant, lactating mothers and young children become all the more vulnerable within the disadvantaged constituency of the Dalits. To ensure maternal and neo natal health, PVCHR distributed around 5000 packets of food, multigrain biscuits and juice among the children, folic acid and iron syrup, 60 protein packs as nutritional supplement to pregnant and lactating mothers, 2,500 Calcium and vitamin D tablets, 100 multi-vitamin drops to children up to 3 years.

Relief distribution is not an easy intervention, when resources are scarce and demands are huge. PVCHR faced the same dilemma. Dalit families have differential needs and vulnerabilities and prioritizing them is quite challenging.

Networking and advocacy with the government: Due to paucity of financial and material resources with PVCHR, it became imperative to ensure that the government machinery works efficiently so as to reduce the gap between the demand and supply. Based on the quick need assessment PVCHR did micro-level planning in their old and new sites of engagement and carried out differential interventions in view of the locality and target specific needs and problems.

On 24^th March 2020 itself, PVCHR made an appeal to the Prime Minister urging urgent action for ensuring the survival of the poor during COVID pandemic. The appeal covered important points like free distribution of food grains for poor families, PPE kits and other protective equipment to healthcare staff, relief measures for handloom weavers, strangled migrants, and such others. Copy of the emails were also sent to the chief minister and top officials. The appeal was shared on blogs and twitter, tagging to all the important stakeholders in the government administration. At this time, the cases of Musahars surviving on akari grass surged, which were shared on social media and print media. PVCHR wrote to members of legislative assembly and parliament to support the deprived communities and strangled migrants. This created sufficient pressure on the district administration. Meanwhile, the Home Minister announced a relief package in which almost all the demands of the PVCHR cited in the appeal were accepted. Now, the next step was ensuring actual and efficient implementation of the announced relief package. Results of the tailor-made actions for different target groups are as follows:

a) Poor Dalit families: Many interventions entailing strategies of administrative advocacy like signature campaigns, media involvement and creating pressure through written appeals to the prime minister, chief minister, secretaries, state and national human rights commissions, and district administration, demanding temporary ration cards and subsidized/free food grains, were carried out. As a result, 4500 kg of rice and 900 kg of wheat grains were promptly distributed to 900 starving poor Dalit families. PVCHR also provided a list of 15,000 families to the state government and the district administrations of ten districts, who then received food grains after much advocacy and follow-ups. Two communities received drinking water facilities.

b) Pregnant and lactating mothers and infants: Through consistent advocacy, dry ration was made available to expectant and lactating mothers and young children so as to curb IMR and MMR among impoverished Dalits.

c) Children: PVCHR addressed the malnutrition and starvation among Dalit children through its Childline at Budaun, Uttar Pradesh. Awareness was created in the community to give a call at 1098 in case any child requires nutritional support and through a cadre a volunteers and partner NGOs dry ration was made available instantaneously.

d) Tribal groups: Seeing the pathetic condition of certain tribal groups living in remotest areas Sonbhadra district, PVCHR filed petition to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and District Magistrate of Varanasi about their food insecurity, water problem and housing, after which 29 families received ration kits of food grains and essentials commodities, 12 families and 12 internally displaced persons received new ration cards and water facilities provided to villagers.

e) Weavers and vendors: Through administrative advocacy by PVCHR, hundreds of weavers and vendors received the 1000 INR from Pandhan Mantri Garib KalyanYojana.

f) Strangled Migrants: PVCHR filed a petition for food and safe transport for the strangled migrant workers, which was widely circulated through email forwards, twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc. Political parties, regional and national, too supported the NGO. Mr Rahul Gandhi and Ms Priyanka Gandhi extended their help in safe bringing back of the migrants, including arranging special buses. As direct support by PVCHR, arrangements were made

g) Frontline workers: On finding that the healthcare centres and hospitals do not have enough supply of protective equipment, which is hampering their services, PVCHR distributed thousands of high quality masks and gloves to community workers, healthcare staff like ANMs, sanitation workers and the police. In designated COVID hospitals, masks, sanitizers and dry ration including 20 cartons of biscuit packets were provided. The staff, volunteers and community women prepared masks for distribution. This apart, the NGO advocated with the government to provide PPE kits, masks and gloves to the frontline workers. Emails were sent to the office of the chief medical officer, chief secretary and the chief minister in this matter, with rigorous reminders and follow-ups

Resource Raising: Though there is no dearth of enthusiasm, commitment, missionary zeal, and compassion in the PVCHR team, but lack sufficient monetary and material resources to meet the needs of the target population. Resource raising from local sources and partner agencies became an imperative step. Funding partners like Child Rights and You (CRY), India Tobacco Company, Tata Trust, United Nation Voluntary Trust Fund for Torture Victims (UNVFVT), promptly replied to the requests of PVCHR and supported for the provisions of relief material. A fund raising campaign was created on ketto and spread it across the globe using social media platforms. An overwhelming response was received from well-wishers and followers of the work of PVCHR in different countries like, Sweden, Germany, Norway and the USA. Among the locals, quite interestingly, many upper caste people supported the initiatives of PVCHR for the Dalits, thereby blurring the caste boundaries. The material and financial resources received were used for relief provisions and establishing community kitchen.

Community kitchen: One of the noted steps taken by PVCHR was providing cooked hot meals to almost 500 families daily for 19 days from 14^th April (Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s birthday) to 3^rd May 2020, in the second phase of the lockdown. With the financial assistance provided from Swedish people, initiated by one NRI, initiative of ‘Rajdulari Memorial Neo Dalit Community kitchen’ was taken up in collaboration with Akhil Bharatvarshiya Brahmin Mahasabha. This intervention was not only life saving for several starving Dalits and strangled migrants but also a revolutionary step to break caste barriers.

Capacity building of the staff: The NGO organized many sessions on in-house training for its staff on zoom and other online platforms to provide basic digital literacy, dealing with gender violence, role of media and social activities during lockdown, building their capacity to make use of social media for reaching out to the target groups, ensuring transparency and people’s participation and advocacy. National Media Confederation and other agencies were also tapped to provide requisite training to the team, especially the fieldworkers. The staff did commendable work on the field while applying the knowledge and skills thus gained.

Response to abuse and violence in domestic and public spaces: Lockdown increased the instances of domestic violence in the community and the PVCHR staff psycho-social support to the victims through tele-counselling and arranged for free legal aid. Two women facing severe violence were shifted to short stay home through networking with other NGOs. In sporadic cases of caste based violence, PVCHR initiated case filing in the local police station and wrote to National and State Human Rights Commission along with legal interventions.

Counselling and psychological support: The corona crisis heightened the occurrences of anxieties, frustrations, and burnouts, mood-swings not only among the community people but also the staff and volunteers. PVCHR provided round the clock tele-counselling to them and offered compassionate hearing, relaxation and meditation exercises, for rejuvenation and healing.

Ensuring good governance practices: While in some blocks and several villages, government’s directives of immediate provision of ration was adhered to but at many places, dealers created hurdles by refusal or unnecessary delays. Through Whatsapp, PVCHR team sent the official communication to the dealers, beneficiaries and volunteers. Pictures clicked by the community dwellers were sent to PVCHR staff as proof of denial of ration, which created needed pressure on the functionaries, resulting in disbursal of food-grains. Likewise, photographs and information sent through mobiles gave ideas to making circles in front of ration shops and maintaining the prescribed distance in remote areas and villages where television is not there. People’s participation is guaranteed wherever feasible in the emergency situation of COVID pandemic that called for immediate action. To illustrate, poor MNREGA workers and weavers were mobilized for signature campaigns to receive their due payments.

Impacts and Implications: The interventions carried out by PVCHR set a strong foundation of an egalitarian and peaceful society. It also provided insights into developing theoretical models for community peace-building. Some of the salient lessons learnt are as follows:

· Community needs are multi-layered that require micro-planning within the broader macro- level framework. ‘One size fit all’ approach is not effective.

· Relief-disbursement was done based on differential needs and this intervention has covered steps like Rapport Formation, Assessment, Prioritization, Intervention and Disposition & follow up expressed by the acronym RAPID (see: Everly, et al., 2005).

· PVCHR remained apolitical while appealing to, collaborating and involving the national and regional political parties. Elected representatives as well as defeated candidates cutting across political affiliations came forward to support the NGO’s interventions. From village to state level, this move helped in collaborative spirit taking over the inter-party frictions and conflicts.

· Awareness campaigns designed by PVCHR provide insights into designing message- contents suiting the cultural context and adhering to the principles of behavior change communication and social marketing.

· Community peace building initiatives can be effectively materialized if multiple strategies are exercised. While facilitating the oppressed group (here, Dalits) to raise their voice against injustice is a must, keeping the channels of communication, conflict mitigation and reconciliation open with the traditionally considered group of oppressors (here, upper caste) is equally important. Though PVCHR mobilized the deprived Dalit communities, it did not view the entire upper-caste group as ‘perpetrator’. It reached out to the upper caste for collaboration and support in the interventions for the Dalits facing crises and deprivations. As a positive outcome, more than 300 upper-caste people contributed generously for the food-security of the lower-caste groups. During the crisis time of corona pandemic, working together of Dalits and upper-castes as one team (say, in community kitchen) blurred the caste boundaries, paving way for peaceful community living.

· Social work response to crisis situation like corona pandemic requires an eclectic approach that entails networking, collaborating with wide array of stakeholders (government, corporate, NGOs, citizens, political parties, religious, philanthropic organizations, Non-resident Indians, etc.) and employing a whole range of strategies and components such as awareness generation, conscientization, mobilization, cognitive restructuring, administrative advocacy, partnering with print and electronic media, and the like).

· Working on staff development and ensuring their well-being lays the foundation of successful interventions.

· PVCHR established powerful, effective and creative usage of social media for its programme components like awareness creation, networking, advocacy, mobilization, making it a tool of empowerment for the Dalit communities amidst the corona pandemic with restrictions in physically reaching out to the target groups.

· PVCHR raised funds from local sources, corporates, religious and political agencies, India and abroad. Effective resource raising by the NGO provides understanding in creative and innovative strategies along with its sincerity, perseverance and credibility of work.

· The work of PVCHR demonstrates that for building and maintaining credibility in the community, features of good governance like people’s participation, democratic decision- making, transparency, accountability and responsiveness are essential. They only offer sustainable solutions for egalitarian and peaceful society.

Conclusions: In the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic with the aim to address food insecurity and meeting other basic needs for the impoverished Dalit families, PVCHR carried out a range of interventions like direct relief disbursement and ensured that the State machinery functions efficiently and effectively through advocacy and social action. The NGO took firm steps towards converting the crisis into opportunities for cordial and shared living and a peaceful community, which has been traditionally a ground of caste based abuse, discrimination and violence. There is a need to highlight and propagate the work of the civil society organizations and community based initiatives that contribute to community peace building. The work of PVCHR is one of the numerous efforts in India and the world over that require academic and research attention to demonstrate the process and modalities of community peace building work.

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