We are happy to announce that founder Deepa Pawar has been selected as a Samvaad 2020 Fellow after weeks of rigorous selection procedure! Her project is to create and publish the first ever book documenting the iron tools & weapons making occupation of her Gadiya Lohar nomadic tribe.
While weapons-making is a multi-million dollar global industry, the Gadiya Lohar who are perhaps one of the first to invent the skill of working with iron, and till today make high quality weapons and tools with their rudimentary, self-made machinery, are today suffering extreme poverty, stigma (as weapons-makers they are routinely criminalized) and deprivation.
– says Deepa
This project is part of Deepa’s work to instill a sense of pride among NT-DNTs about their rich culture, while looking towards modernizing and making their occupations viable which are otherwise fast becoming obsolete in a capitalist world.
See our other related work with NT-DNTs led by Deepa.