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Overview

While India is listed among the middle-income countries of the world, it is common to see sprawling slum dwellings near wealthy residential and business centres. India actually has one of the highest levels of poverty in South Asia (based on income, education, health and a number of other factors). Social divisions, frequent disasters and a lack of sustainable income opportunities add to a growing problem of income disparity.

India is highly susceptible to natural disasters like earthquakes and floods and it is one of the countries most affected by climate change.

A woman works at a sewing machine at Tearfund’s local partner’s sewing project in India. Credit: Tearfund partner

Our impact

Our work in India

Our local partners are working with communities to help them develop sustainable sources of food and income. Farmers are trained in new skills to help them adapt to changing weather patterns and the effects of climate change and disasters. This means that people have access to sufficient nutritious food all year round, even in times of crisis.

Thousands of people have benefited from joining small scale community savings groups known as self-help groups. These groups reduce dependency on moneylenders and enable people to overcome poverty and hunger. The groups encourage members to set up small businesses and link them to local markets to help them sell their produce.

Through our local partners, we have helped set up disaster management committees within disaster-prone villages across various states in the country. These committees improve the community’s capacity to respond and recover when disasters like earthquakes or floods strike.

Tearfund is committed to reducing child trafficking and is working with a local partner organisation and a network of other agencies to do so. Communities have been equipped to resist the advances of traffickers through raising awareness of the dangers, the formation of vigilance groups, and economic empowerment.

Looking for other information about India?

If you need practical tools and guides for working in India, or would like to view research or case studies to understand our work there more deeply, take a look at our partner site, Tearfund Learn.

Explore resources on Tearfund Learn

Women and children go out to the fields in Bihar, India. Credit: Jenny Barthow/Tearfund

Please pray for India

    • Pray for the nation to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Prolonged lockdowns have closed businesses and families have been affected by illness, death and grief.
    • Ask for protection over families vulnerable to human trafficking due to a lack of employment opportunities.
    • Pray for people living in communities that are vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change. Ask that they will receive the support they need to recover.

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