Slogan for change

To bring about a change in their fortune, people of Maharashtra?s Jambhulpada village have started with shouts of ameeri lao, which the villagers claim is one better than garibi hatao.

Maharashtra’s Jambhulpada village, where most of the people live below the poverty line, is trying to bring about a change in fortune and has a slogan for it. These days, the village resonates with shouts of "ameeri lao", which the villagers claim is one better than "garibi hatao".

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To bring about this change, the charitable trust Chittaranjan Seva Pratisthan has set up a hostel — Chittaranjan Chhatralaya — that gives underprivileged boys here an education and vocational training.

Trust chairman SK Choudhury says: "We try to bring wealth to the village by making at least one youth in each family skillfully employable." The hostel houses 240 boys who get food, clothes, books, tuition, vocational training and healthcare — all free of cost.