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Survivor Leadership & Budget 2025-26: Bridging the Gaps in the Social Sector

For the past two years, I have been deeply engaged with the Leadership Next program, working with survivors of trafficking—child trafficking, sex trafficking, and labor trafficking. Through my work across states like Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and at the national level with ILFAT (Integrated Leaders Forum Against Trafficking), I have seen firsthand the challenges survivors face in accessing government programs, education, and economic opportunities.The Union Budget 2025-26, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, allocates significant funding for women and child welfare, skill development, rural empowerment, and gender budgeting. But does this budget truly address the realities faced by trafficking survivors and marginalized communities? Based on my experience, I see both opportunities and gaps in how government policies translate into real impact on the ground.

Feb 11, 2025

Beyond Blue: Navigating the Challenges of Gender Variance in Boys

In a world bound by rigid gender norms, gender variant boys often find themselves navigating through a landscape where their identity and expression are met with skepticism, ridicule, and even violenc

Jul 01, 2024

Vimukthi: Transforming Narratives and Advocating for Change

In the districts of Guntur, NTR, and Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh, a group of women has been quietly but determinedly challenging the status quo. These women, who earn just enough to meet their basic su

Jun 26, 2024

Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication: The impact of budget management for survivors of trafficking

Social thinker and activist Naila Kabeer defined empowerment as the expansion of the ability of an individual to make strategic life choices in a context where earlier that individual was denied that ability. Largely theorizing around the impact of earning livelihood and gaining financial resources on the lives of women, Kabeer underlined that making a small change wherein a woman can make choices about simple household financial decisions, can create ‘pathways to empowerment’ for them.

Apr 10, 2024

Collective power: How trafficking survivors come together to hold the govt accountable

Human trafficking is a grave human rights violation and involves the sale of human beings for labour, sexual slavery, domestic servitude, forced marriage or sale of organs. The US Department of States’ ‘Trafficking in Persons’ report 2022 highlighted how India does not meet the minimum standard required for tackling and elimination of trafficking, having over 6674 identified victims, and 694 potential ones. This is still a conservative estimate, as around 22 Indian states have not registered a single case of bonded labour victims. According to the Global Slavery Index 2023, out of every 1000 people in India, eight live in conditions of modern slavery. Apart from that, none of the State policies have any component around the rehabilitation of survivors and the role of existing government systems in rehabilitating survivors, except the victim compensation schemes of the states.