Not much time has passed since Rewa Roy used to consider herself as an 'incapable' person. A severe attack of polio when she was just five had left her with a physical handicap, which also affected her self-confidence and self-esteem.

But, Rewa today is a 'social activist' in Doosra Dashak's Kishanganj block in Baran district of Rajasthan, India, committed to working with young men and women from the Saharia community to make them aware of their rights and alter their self-image. And this has happened in a time span of three years.

Nineteen-year-old Rewa Roy belongs to a Bengali family who migrated from Bangladesh at the time of 1971 Indo-Pakistan war and took refuge in Parania village in Kishanganj. Now, this very village is home for Rewa and her family. She was born in India and has only heard about stories of Bangladesh from her older family/community members. She lives in Parania and identifies herself with the most impoverished community of Kishanganj, known as 'Saharia', a primitive tribe.

It was in December 2002, when Rewa came into the Doosra Dashak fold. Doosra Dashak had been active in Kishanganj block for nearly one-and-a-half years and a number of forums of enthusiastic young boys and girls had become active there. Energetic and keen to spread the message of the project throughout the block by holding meetings with adolescents/young persons of different villages and encouraging them to participate in a new kind of educational experience, a group of two workers had come to Parania. Rewa was amongst the curious listeners in one of the meetings held by the members in the village. Impressed by the vigor and energy of her peers, she agreed to participate in one of the training programs on 'Rural Journalism' being organized at Bhanwargarh village.

"This was just for the sake of curiosity," she later described. "I wanted to know what they do exactly." But, since then, there has been no looking back for her.

"I had thought that I would come back within one to two days." But she continued there, attending the whole training program for all five days, met with young persons of a similar age group from different villages, who were eager to come out of their existential shells, becoming allies of a vision of a just society based on the principles of mutual respect and equity.

For Rewa, it was quite a different experience altogether – boys and girls learning and living together in an atmosphere of mutual respect and freedom and field workers and trainers acting as 'friends' rather than 'givers'.

Rewa had passed her VIII standard and was making 'bidis' along with her widowed mother. "Looking after a widowed mother, I used to feel that this was the end of my life, that I would keep making the same 'bidis' throughout my life and I would never find a way out," says Rewa. "I could barely walk because of my handicap and I was a girl with exceptionally low self-confidence."

However, destiny was perhaps writing something unthinkable for this Bengali girl. As she returned to her village, equipped with the knowledge about the Right to Information act, the sarpanch (the village head) of her village paved the way for Rewa shaping up as a peer leader.

Rewa and her adolescent peers decided to ask the sarpanch to furnish certain information with regard to village development work, which he plainly refused. In fact, it was the sarpanch’s husband, a powerful person, who ran the village on her behalf. Hurt by the blunt refusal to go by the law of the land, Rewa and her allies decided to take the matter further. They were determined not to leave the battle un-fought. Informal discussions and meetings were held with villagers and people were informed of the Right to Information and their entitlement to ask for their just rights. Many ridiculed them and expressed their doubts about the success of such a move against the sarpanch. However, there were some who understood and agreed to be partners in the struggle. It was a partly successful endeavour. The struggle continued for almost a year but contributed a lot in establishing the peoples' faith in themselves. After a lot of struggle and protests and persuasions, the sarpanch agreed to build a boundary wall for the village school, which was one of the demands of the group.

That was the crucial moment for Rewa. From there on, she was a new girl, confident, articulate, with a capacity to develop an understanding of the issues and pass it on to others. Very soon, she established herself as a peer educator amongst the persons of her age group.

Very sensitive to the status of women in the society, she started taking an interest in the activities of 'Jagrat Mahila Sangathan' (a collective of awakened women to advocate for womens' and girls' rights) in Kishanganj block and raising issues of concern to women as well as marginalized sections of the society.

As she says, "I have seen my mother struggling for survival after the death of my father and have experienced silent anger in her suppressed life. Society at large is ruthless towards a woman. That's what I feel. I myself have gone through the experience of discrimination in my life because of being a woman, a handicapped person. Perhaps, this very experience provides me with energy to fight for those who I see being exploited, with a severe sense of inequity in their lives."

And Rewa proves her words through action. In December 2002, when Baran district was in the grip of a severe famine, provoked by the reports of starvation deaths and unbearable hardships of people, the Doosra Dashak team organized itself to bring out information about the real condition of the people and provided relief to those on the verge of destitution. Rewa was again in the forefront, conducting a survey of families, helping in the establishment of a nutrition centre, training other youth groups in the technique of a poverty survey and advocating the start of relief works for the affected people. The government responded positively and a number of relief works were started to provide work to the people going through hunger as a result of the famine.

One such work was going on in Gigcha. There a Saharia labourer was beaten brutally by a person from another caste, the reason being the former’s protests against falsification of accounts and records in the relief work. Jagrat Mahila Sangathan and other youth groups decided to take up the matter to the police and demanded the immediate arrest of the accused and relief for the victim. Rewa managed to muster support from villages and a protest demonstration was organized in front of the nearby police station, which ended with the arrest of the accused and an assurance from the administration to provide compensation to the victim.

Rewa says this success worked as magic to boost the morale of the workers. "We witnessed the power of being united and realized our inner strength." After that there has been no looking back for Rewa and her young counterparts.

When a woman in Mundiar village died as a result of the brutal assault by the police following some provocation of the tehsildar, Rewa and her counterparts made it a human rights issue and demanded action against all those involved. For nine full days a protest demonstration was organized with the participation by hundreds of village youths and community members to secure justice for the victim.

"Moreover, for us it was a matter of ensuring dignity of human life," Rewa said. "We managed resources through the contribution by the community members and firmly stayed on the ground till the tehsildar was transferred and the policemen involved in the mishap, were punished."

There are innumerable discreet examples of incidents against human dignity, gender inequality and exploitation of those who fall in the lowest rung of the society, which have been on the agenda of Rewa and her group of young adolescent boys and girls. Whether, it is a matter of right to work or right to education, Rewa is the one, who is always in the forefront.

Beaming with self-confidence and a newly acquired self-esteem, as a result of her participation in almost everything happening in the Kishanganj block and around the area in matters concerning restoration of values of justice and equity, Rewa serves as a team member of a group of social activists, which has taken shape in Kishanganj. She is responsible for peer counseling, formation of women's groups and youth groups and holding charge of Khandela cluster, an altogether new set of villages. One of her feet still dangles, she can barely walk. But the energy and confidence in herself, and the positive feelings on the face of this Bengali girl is seen to be believed. She can be seen anytime in the remote villages of Kishanganj, shouting slogans for the people's rights, explaining to villagers about their predicament and possible ways out and counseling peers on how to make good use of their valuable physical attributes and time.

It has not been a smooth journey, as Rewa admits. "Villagers used to criticize me. They would ask my mother about my marriage; all kinds of rumours would go around. They would say boys and girls are working together and something untoward would happen. Many were suspicious. Why was I taking up cases without having any personal gain?"

"The sarpanch's husband was furious, thinking I had instigated people against him and his wife. There were several incidents of intimidation. But I was not to be cowed down. Struggles took a long time and sometimes people were impatient. It was obvious. But we managed to survive because we were equipped with information, knowledge and courage. What I have realized over the years is that collective effort is the only way out in a condition in which Saharias in Kishanganj live. We are trying to build larger collectives, with more people and more information. And we are trying to put things right."

And she seems to prove her words....