Rajendra works in a factory in Faridabad. He was never paid for overtime. The wages do not match the salaries of the permanent staff. There are no holidays; not even during festivals. Since the last 10 years at the factory, Rajendra has not been provided with a valid company ID card, in absence of which while going back from work, the policeman at the chowki often stop him and other workers and harass. There has also been disputes regarding wages given by the contractor. An Agrasar Saathi collectivized the workers in the factory and orient them on the law. They had a dialogue with the owner and after negotiations, he agreed to resolve dispute on wages and also grant them a leave every week.
Progressing with the community
Agrasar envisions a caring and compassionate society with opportunities of growth and development to all to live a meaningful and enriching life.
Our mission is to enable equitable access to safe and enriching education for children, facilitating gainful and progressive employment for migrant workers, and basic rights and services (as citizens and human beings) for their families.Our Programs
Agrasar Bachpan
Under 'Agrasar Bachpan' Program we teach out-of-school children and help them attain age-appropriate learning levels with a larger goal of main-streaming them into formal education system. We essentially follow progress of each child so as to provide need based support for ensuring continuity in education
Kaagaz ki Kashti
We motivate and empower children, their parents, teachers and other stakeholders to show solidarity against Corporal Punishment and apply better, non-violent means for achieving their educational objectives. This initiative to make schools safer is aptly known as 'Kaagaz ki Kashti'.
Agrasar Pravasi
Through our 'Migration Support Centres', we facilitate access to basic rights and services like identity documentation, social accilimitization, employability, financial literacy, legal infrastructure and enterprise building support for people who migrate to urban regions for livelihood.
Our Impact
Agrasar Pravasi
A mother's fight against Corporal Punishment
Sunita’s son was studying in a Government school of Gurugram in grade VII, punished regularly by his teachers. His mother got extremely concerned and shared the incidents with our team. We explained the negative long term consequences of corporal punishment, and made her aware of child rights and the laws against the menace. Our team also suggested that she talks to the teachers and have a heart-to-heart conversation with them to bring out the “hidden” compassion that each one of us has as a human being. The mother felt competent and encouraged to go to the school, and had a long conversation as suggested. She even brought in creativity from her side and later shared with the team.
We serve 2000 children like Sunita’s son every year through 3 Agrasar Centres.
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Learn about our Impact Philosophy
Our Impact Philosophy
Even though we understand that designing scalable interventions is important, we do not believe in targeting numbers. Whenever being asked the question - "How is it going?", our team members would normally talk about students and people - successes achieved or challenges being faced in particular cases. We also try to be fair and objective in communicating about 'impact' to all stakeholders. e.g. you would often hear us mentioning that - "Around 20% of the youth who come to our Employability Centres would have gone in similar jobs had they not joined us. Therefore, we need to find even better avenues of placement." We would also talk about children who we were not able to mainstream. We share our successes as well as challenges so as to attract people and organizations in our journey who mean to make a "real impact".
Our Values
Justice
Justice in the present context refers to the philosophical approach, functional schema and operational system by which fairness is managed within the organization as well as with all the other stakeholders. Justice is extremely critical in order to encourage workplace motivation, focus, engagement with ownership and productive workplace behavior on the part of the employees.
Compassion
A strong sense of team spirit prevails in the organization. All team members proactively assist each other wherever and whenever required. Compassion also includes a fairness and unbiased dealing. Fairness means that all the team members are treated with equity, individuality, based on their preferences, needs and varied contributions.
Transparency
Honest communication is fundamental to building a relationship of trust. We share not just our triumphs, but also the challenges and failures which we are facing. We strive towards having a transparent and participatory decision-making process. Participation helps in improving the quality as well as diversity of information and opinions which guide the decision-making process.
Shared Vision
All team members, including the Agrasar Saathis, have alignment in responses to fundamental questions - What do we do? Why do we do what we do? What is the impact of our work? What are the various challenges and gaps? Each and every member within the organization has an enriching and comprehensive role as per her/his interest, competence and aptitude.
Respect and Humility
Team members acknowledge each other’s strengths and limitations to work in a complementary manner with each other. We have a willingness to help each other when the need arises. We attempt to understand and put ourselves in the context of the other person in arriving at a solution to any challenge. We strive towards doing this while also being able to provide critical feedback.
Clarity in Processes
The processes have been clearly laid down and documented as far as possible. All the team members have participated in developing the processes and related tools and therefore have a clear understanding about the process and the need to adhere to them. Any new joinee is oriented througoughly on all aspects of culture and processes.
What's New
A Practical Guide to Acts & Rules applicable to “Migrant Workers” in India
Full Document can be accessed by Clicking Here Labour legislation in India has a long history of 125 years. Pre-independent India suppressed voices of workers ...
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सरकारी स्कूल और ऑनलाइन पढाई
कहते है, बच्चों की पहली पाठशाला घर ही होता है, पिछले तीन महीनों से, कोरोना वायरस के चलते देश भर के सभी स्कूलों को बंद ...
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Corporal punishments and societal attitudes
Legal protections can be important safeguards against Corporal punishments. However legal safeguards shall be availed of in the very extreme conditions and only by certain ...
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Strong Children or Broken Men
I remember my days in a missionary residential school years back. Many memories are great, that of friends, playing football in torrential rain, the mischief ...
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‘Unearthing alternatives to corporal punishment’
Some thoughts to ponder on: Apparently, Corporal Punishment is a world-wide phenomenon. It’s being fought against, just like many other forms of discrimination are being ...
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