Welcome to Parivartan Kendra

Parivartan Kendra is an NGO based in the state of Bihar, India. It’s mission is to empower people from marginalized communities using non-violent methods to advocate for their rights to justice, equality, and sustainable livelihoods. Parivartan Kendra operates in the Vaishali and Patna districts of Bihar, working primarily with women, youth and children from poor, Dalit, and Muslim communities. The goal of Parivartan Kendra’s work is a society that affirms the concepts of universal human rights and human dignity; a society free of discrimination, disenfranchisement, and injustice based on caste, religion, gender or identity. Parivartan Kendra works in solidarity with organizations in India and around the world that support equal, just, compassionate, and loving social systems.

Parivartan Kendra Mission Areas

1. Women’s Empowerment/Leadership Training - Parivartan Kendra oversees village-based women’s organizations in several Dalit and Muslim villages in the Vaishali District. The organizations offer a platform for self-expression, mutual support, and counseling. Additionally, savings and lending groups and the pooling of resources and between participants help them achieve more sustainable livelihoods and provide them with a social safety net. Parivartan Kendra identifies and fosters strong women leaders in each village, providing education in human rights and training in community organizing. The goal is sustainable, independent, local leadership in each community.

2. Right to Life with Dignity - Human Rights Monitoring and Support – Parivartan Kendra is monitoring Human Rights Violations in Vaishali and Patna districts of Bihar. It provides legal support and counseling to survivors of violence and other human rights abuses. Women and children from poor, Dalit and Muslim communities in rural Bihar are frequently targeted for exploitation, discrimination, untouchability and violence. Parivartan Kendra provides legal advice to survivors of such abuses and fosters connections with organizations and supporters who can assist them in their efforts to get justice.

3. Right to Education/Child Rights - Poor children, especially adolescent girls, are routinely deprived of their right to education in rural Bihar. Parivartan Kendra works to establish connections between its village organizations and the school system, leading to increased accountability on the part of the schools and an improved educational environment. Additionally, Parivartan Kendra operates educational centers for drop-out students from marginalized communities, providing supplemental academic instruction as well as education in human rights and life skills. The centers provide instruction in language and mathematics and foster self-expression and critical thinking through arts-based programs including songs, games, drawing and painting, etc. It is also monitoring and acting against discrimination in school based on caste, gender, religion and identity.

4. Right to Sustainable and proper livelihood - In the agriculture-based communities of rural Bihar, land is the main resource necessary to achieve a sustainable livelihood. Due to the unequal distribution of wealth, people from Dalit and poor communities often do not have access to land on which to grow a sufficient amount of food to provide for their families. Consequently, they are forced to work as agricultural laborers in the fields of wealthier landowners, earning only 40 to 50 rupees per day. This meager salary still does not provide sufficient funds for a sustainable livelihood. The resulting food insecurity leads to malnutrition and contributes to poor health and disease. Parivartan Kendra works to ensure sustainable, dignified livelihoods for members of the poor and Dalit communities.

5. Community Media Hub - Media is fourth pillar of democracy. Voices of marginalized are very weak in media. Due to lack of representation in the mainstream media, the voices of those belonging to marginalized communities often go unheard by much of Indian society. The media also is a part of the same society which has same discriminatory hierarchical power structures based on gender, caste, class, religion. Additionally, members of marginalized communities lack the resources and platform to raise the issues of their communities on a wider scale. There is a big question what to do to correct this in the society and also media? We need to talk about it, talk loud, talk to the whole world. To correct these imbalances, Parivartan Kendra aims to develop a community media hub in the Vaishali district of Bihar. It will in future aim at getting the representation of the marginalized Dalit and Muslim communities in Media which will strengthen democracy in itself, also contribute to the movement/s against human rights violations, give visual effect of consolidation of thousand of voices and also support and empower the victims of Human rights violation. In April 2013, Parivartan Kendra conducted an introductory training workshop in Mahua block of Vaishali district of Bihar on the production and use of video to tell stories.

6. Covid 19 and Parivartan Kendra's work - In Bihar, the Covid 19 pandemic is on its peak. People in the villages Parivartan Kendra works, do not have workto support their families. They are not those who have the upper hand to work from home. They are daily wage workers and now due to the Covid 19 pandemic, they do not have work. When they do not have earnings, they are again taking loans on high interest from the money lenders. Again they would be enslaved for not able to pay back loans. They would almost be bonded labourer.

As our community leader Mintadevi says that she and her community is not receiving food grains under PDS though one month passed after lockdown. People are jobless and have no earning to run their homes and feed their hungry children. When they went to the dealer, they got aggressive answers to wait for their turn. Minta says what is the dealer asking for wait for food grains or wait for hunger death? They have no savings to buy food grains as they have been daily wage workers.

Parivartan Kendra decided to raise funds and distribute food grains at the same time make the people aware about government schemes.