PARI Contributors 

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<h2>28. The borderlines of hatred</h2><p>Attacks on Bengali migrant workers from the minority community, particularly against those in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, have risen sharply these past few months causing panic and terror amongst them</p><h5>August 8, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Anirban%20Dey">Anirban Dey</a></h5>

The borderlines of hatred

<h2>27. In Gurez, home is not where the word is</h2><p>Harsh winters and cross border shelling are driving the Dard-Shin people in Kashmir’s Gurez valley out of their homes. Seasonal migration is also having an impact on the community’s language and culture</p><h5>August 5, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Muzamil%20Bhat">Muzamil Bhat</a></h5>

In Gurez, home is not where the word is 

<h2>26. The teacher who dreams big…for her students</h2><p>A Munda Adivasi teacher in Jharkhand has developed a curriculum that is bringing more children from scheduled tribe communities into the classroom</p><h5>August 2, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Sandhya%20Lakra">Sandhya Lakra</a></h5>

The teacher who dreams big…for her students

<h2>25. Playing with diversity</h2><p>Adivasi girls in this primary residential school in Chhotaudepur play games and speak in Gujarati which, though not their mother tongue, serves as their link language</p><h5>July 20, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Vanita%20Valvi">Vanita Valvi</a></h5>

Playing with diversity

<h2>24. ‘Gondi language is our religion and caste’</h2><p>For the Gonds of Lonadei in Madhya Pradesh, their mother tongue is not just what they speak – it’s who they are. That identity now stands on shaky ground</p><h5>May 14, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Pallavi%20Chaturvedi">Pallavi Chaturvedi</a></h5>

‘Gondi language is our religion and caste’

<h2>23. Singing for Monyul in Arunachal</h2><p>Monpa children sing a song of their land and people, keeping their language alive</p><h5>May 12, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Sinchita%20Parbat">Sinchita Parbat</a></h5>

Singing for Monyul in Arunachal

<h2>22. The resident songwriter of Lupungpat</h2><p>In Jharkhand, Shraddhanand composes songs in Asur, the mother tongue of his community</p><h5>April 24, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Devesh">Devesh</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Shraddhanand%20Asur">Shraddhanand Asur</a></h5>

The resident songwriter of Lupungpat

<h2>21. Welcoming spring the Warli way</h2><p>Shimga, celebrated at the onset of summer, is a special festival for many communities in Maharashtra. Here is how Warli Adivasis celebrate it</p><h5>March 27, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Shani%20Eknath%20Sonavane">Shani Eknath Sonavane</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Mamta%20Pared">Mamta Pared</a></h5>

Welcoming spring the Warli way

<h2>20. ‘I will never [again] sing in Assamese’</h2><p>Afiya Khatun, a singer and Youtuber, has had her identity questioned on social media and a police complaint filed against her for singing a song in Assamese. Despite this, she persists in her art</p><h5>March 13, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Arshad%20Ahmed">Arshad Ahmed</a></h5>

‘I will never [again] sing in Assamese’

<h2>19. In a mother’s tongue</h2><p>Kharia, once spoken by many families in Chhattisgarh, today lives on through only one mother’s tongue in the village of Patandadar. A story for International Mother Language Day 2025</p><h5>February 21, 2025 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Nirmal%20Kumar%20Sahu">Nirmal Kumar Sahu</a></h5>

In a mother’s tongue

<h2>18. In Chhindwara: Bhariati language declining fast</h2><p>Bharia farmer Kamlesh Dandoliya is an accomplished author and language archivist. He says his mother tongue Bhariati is losing ground to Hindi, in fact much of the language has already been lost</p><h5>October 29, 2024 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/ritu-sharma/">Ritu Sharma</a></h5>

In Chhindwara: Bhariati language declining fast

<h2>17. The wedding singer</h2><p>In Chug village of West Kameng district, Karchung is the honoured wedding singer</p><h5>October 09, 2024 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles?&amp;authorName=Sinchita%20Parbat">Sinchita Parbat</a></h5>

The wedding singer

<h2>16. Palghar school teacher pushes for Warli</h2><p>Bhalchandra Dhangare teaches Adivasi children, many of whom are Warli speakers. He has made the dying language a part of his young students' classroom learning. A story for Teacher's Day</p><h5>September 5, 2024 | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/bhalchandra-dhanagare/">Bhalchandra Dhangare</a></h5>

Palghar school teacher pushes for Warli

<h2>15. <a id="29592" linktype="page">Doing it the ‘write’ way</a></h2><p>Jharkhand&#39;s Parahiya, Mal Paharia and Sabar Adivasi communities are drawing on their oral traditions to create grammar books and primers to preserve their endangered mother tongues. A story from PARI&#39;s Endangered Languages Project on International Day of the World&#39;s Indigenous Peoples<br/></p><h5>August 9, 2024 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/devesh/">Devesh</a></h5>

Doing it the ‘write’ way

<h2>14. <a id="28968" linktype="page">The Kolami-speakers of Yavatmal</a></h2><p>A community of Kolam Adivasi cotton farmers in this district of Maharashtra speak Kolami, a language that is at risk of dying out. PARI’s Endangered Languages Project (ELP) takes a close look at the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), their livelihood and the challenges to their language<br/></p><h5>June 14, 2024 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/ritu-sharma/">Ritu Sharma</a></h5>

The Kolami-speakers of Yavatmal

<h2>13. <a id="27058" linktype="page">‘My tarpa is my deity’</a></h2><p>Bhiklya Ladkya Dhinda is a Warli Adivasi. The 89-year-old musician lives in Walwande and plays the tarpa, a traditional wind instrument made from bamboo and dried bottle gourd. Listen to the story of his music and faith, as told by him<br/></p><h5>February 22, 2024 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/bhiklya-ladkya-dhinda/">Bhiklya Ladkya Dhinda</a></h5><p></p>

‘My tarpa is my deity’

<h2>12. <a id="27039" linktype="page">Laad haiko</a></h2><p>Ho farmer Birsa Hembrom shows us how to make a monsoon fish dish<br/></p><h5>February 15, 2024 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/rahul-kumar/">Rahul Kumar</a></h5>

Laad haiko

<h2>11. <a id="27143" linktype="page">Words: worlds in a grain of sand</a></h2><p>On International Mother Language Day, Indian language editors of PARIBhasha bring together a single story of loss and memory told in 14 different voices, each from a different locale<br/></p><h5>February 21, 2024 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/pari-bhasha-team/">PARIBhasha Team</a></h5>

Words: worlds in a grain of sand

<h2>10. <a id="25009" linktype="page">In the beginning was the word: a story in translation</a></h2><p></p><p>Every story published on PARI sees a reincarnation in 14 Indian languages. The pleasures and pains involved in the process often remain unarticulated. On International Translation Day celebrated on September 30, our Indian language editors engage in a conversation about their experiences<br/></p><h5>September 30, 2023 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/pari-bhasha-team/">PARIBhasha Team</a></h5>

In the beginning was the word: a story in translation

<h2>9. <a id="23637" linktype="page">Border crossing: one language, two scripts</a><br/></h2><p>Using computer coding that transliterates between two Punjabi scripts, a 90-year-old former BSF commandant reintroduces Gurmukhi to Pakistani Punjab, Shahmukhi to Indian Punjab</p><h5>July 5, 2023 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/amir-malik/">Amir Malik</a></h5>

Border crossing: one language, two scripts

<h2>8. <a id="21297" linktype="page">Migrant labourers: speaking in borrowed tongues</a></h2><p>On February 21, International Mother Language Day, PARI reaches out to migrant workers across India to understand the interplay between land, language and livelihoods in their lives<br/></p><h5>February 21, 2023 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/pari-bhasha-team/">PARIBhasha Team</a></h5>

Migrant labourers: speaking in borrowed tongues

<h2>7. <a id="20826" linktype="page">Lives and languages hanging by a thread</a></h2><p>In times of divisiveness and hatred, a poet goes looking for the languages of love and liberty. And where else does she end up but in a gossamer of mother tongues rising from silenced histories<br/></p><h5>February 20, 2023 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/sabika-abbas/">Sabika Abbas</a></h5>

Lives and languages hanging by a thread

<h2>6. <a id="20182" linktype="page">Of cursed tongues and towers</a></h2><p>A passionate debate sparked off by a minister’s earnest appeal for a common national language takes a poet back to the Tower of Babel<br/></p><h5>November 23, 2022 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/gokul-g-k/">Gokul G. K.</a></h5>

Of cursed tongues and towers

<h2>5. <a id="19597" linktype="page">Unity in heterogeneity, delight in diversity</a></h2><p>A team of PARI translators celebrates International Translation Day by diving into the diverse world that we inhabit through and beyond our languages<br/></p><h5>September 30, 2022 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/p-sainath/">P. Sainath</a></h5>

Unity in heterogeneity, delight in diversity

<h2>4. <a id="15823" linktype="page">Every Indian language is your language</a></h2><p>Today, September 30, is International Translation Day. The People’s Archive of Rural India publishes in 13 languages – that is, in more than any other journalism website<br/></p><h5>September 30, 2021 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/p-sainath/">P. Sainath</a></h5>

Every Indian language is your language

<h2>3. <a id="10250" linktype="page">Learning – lost in translation and migration</a></h2><p>From Bhojpuri to Tamil to Marathi – many children like Satyam Nisad, Raghu Pal and Khushi Rahidas struggle to learn a new language and stay on in school every time their parents migrate in search of wage labour<br/></p><h5>March 6, 2020 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/jyoti-shinoli/">Jyoti Shinoli</a></h5>

Learning – lost in translation and migration

<h2>2. <a id="4340" linktype="page">‘Think and go slowly. You will get gold’</a></h2><p>Ravi Viswanathan, the son of daily wage labourers in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, will soon be the first Alu Kurumba to earn a PhD degree with a thesis that documents his Adivasi community&#39;s endangered language<br/></p><h5>February 18, 2018 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/priti-david/">Priti David</a></h5><h5><p></p></h5>

‘Think and go slowly. You will get gold’

<h2><b>1. <a id="2396" linktype="page">Songs of the Sundarbans</a></b></h2><p>The songs and dance by the Santal, Munda, Oraon and Ho preserve their languages and bring in an income<br/></p><h5>December 16, 2016 | <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/authors/urvashi-sarkar/">Urvashi Sarkar</a></h5>

Songs of the Sundarbans

Peoples' lives, livelihoods and languages

लोगन मन के जिनगी, जीविका अऊ भाखा

ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଜୀବନ, ଜୀବିକା ଓ ଭାଷାସମୂହ

जन-जीवन, धंधा-पानी आ बोली-बानी

आम अवाम का जीवन, आजीविका व ज़बान

લોકોનાં જીવન, આજીવિકાઓ અને ભાષાઓ

জনতার জীবন, জীবিকা ও জবান

ਲੋਕ-ਹਯਾਤੀਆਂ, ਰੋਜ਼ੀਰੋਟੀ ਤੇ ਭਾਸ਼ਾਵਾਂ

ಜನರ ಬದುಕು, ಜೀವನೋಪಾಯ ಮತ್ತು ಭಾಷೆಗಳು

മനുഷ്യരുടെ ജീവിതം, ഉപജീവനം, ഭാഷകൾ

মানুহৰ জীৱন, জীৱিকা আৰু ভাষাসমূহ

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<p style="line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">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.</span></span></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">PARI exists to change that.</span></span></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">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.</span></span></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">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.</span></span></p><p style="line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-top:0pt;" dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>

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Peoples' lives, livelihoods and languages

A collection of stories on how language shapes our everyday, and the role it plays in communities including endangered and vulnerable ones

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