Category Archive : ACORN India

ACORN India’s Green Warriors, salvaged over three tons of plastic waste from streets

ACORN India’s Green Warriors, (the women’s waste pickers of Dharavi) salvaged over three tons of plastic waste from streets, and participated in an ACORN workshop focused on their mental and physical health, hosted by Dr Shreya Agrawal.

ACORN India and SOSVA are making a difference in Dharavi by educating and providing resources.

ACORN India and SOSVA continued their important program to provide education and resources about menstruation to teen girls in Dharavi. Since the program began, they have worked with over 600 adolescents, providing three months worth of free sanitary products.

ACORN India: People’s Commission and Public Enquiry Committee Collaborate with Hawkers Joint Action Committee

Peoples Commission and Public Enquiry committee and Hawkers Joint Action Committee jointly organized the third public hearing in Delhi. Today’s People’s Commission: Jyoti Laxmi (of Satat Sampad, many years of work with hawkers), Arun Mohan (film maker associated with Media Collective), Dr Seema Mathur (Ambedkarvadi Lekhak Sangh and professor at DU), Dr. Avinash Kumar (former Amnesty India Director and human rights writer), Rajendra Ravi (socialist thinker and activist associated with NAPM and People’s Resource Center)

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ACORN India : Updates from July 2023

ACORN India representatives spoke at a convention in New Delhi on Contemporary Popular Movements in India. In Dharavi, ACORN India hosted a Women’s Group Discussion Meeting among waste collectors, homemakers, and small unit workers. They also conducted a free Food Safety Training & Certification (FOSTAC) training session in Noida for street food vendors.

ACORN International’s global response to the COVID-19 Pandemic – Mumbai to British Columbia

At the outset of the now-ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, over a dozen chapters, branches, and affiliate organizations of ACORN International issued a global call for the social protection of low-income families and individuals.

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New Documentary on the work of ACORN in India

Produced by ACORN Foundation India September 2022

Hanumanti Ramchandra Chalwadi has worked in the waste recycling sector in Dharavi, Mumbai, for over 40 years. She started out as a waste collector and separated recyclables from the city’s garbage. Later, she set up and ran her own waste sorting business for many years, which has a cumulative worth of Rs. 1 crore (0.12 million USD). A single mother, she raised her children on her own, and in this short documentary, she talks about her life and the challenges of being a woman waste entrepreneur.

For ACORN India Black Friday is #MakeAmazonPay day

On Black Friday, join workers and activists around the world as we mobilize to #MakeAmazonPay.

Amazon workers paid for Jeff Bezos to go space. On 26 November, they are demanding justice — and asking you to join them: MakeAmazonPay.com

Amazon could give each of its workers a Covid-19 bonus of $690,000 — and still be as rich as the start of the pandemic. 

On Black Friday, join workers and activists around the world as we mobilize to #MakeAmazonPay.

Many of you are ready to mobilize on Black Friday. If you want to organize too and haven’t yet, do get in touch! Action materials can be found here, and we can connect you with other organizations in your country. If you cannot organize but want to show your solidarity and support, please do amplify the #MakeAmazonPay message and materials on social media.

ACORN India: Dharavi Rocks releases new music video, “Vaada Karo”

ACORN India affiliate Dharavi Rocks, located in Mumbai, has recently released a new song with singer Suneeta Rao and musician Dhruv Ghanekar.

The new song was inspired by a study which linked climate change to a rising risk of pandemics, particularly in vulnerable communities. The song is an appeal to take care of our planet as well as each other, and calls for mindfulness about public safety during the COVID-19 crisis.

ACORN India, COVID relief in India, COVID crisis in India
The ongoing COVID crisis in India has affected some of the country’s most vulnerable communities, who are also affected by climate change.

As singer and lyricist Suneeta Rao states, “Climate Change is a problem that threaten us all…no matter what country or belief system we belong to. It is time we looked after one another and ourselves… It’s time we realized what is most important…and what it means to be Human.”

Rao has also stated that all surplus funds from the new song will be directed to ACORN India.

Dharavi Rocks is an educational music and dance project initiated by ACORN Foundation, which focuses on the welfare of slum children and waste collectors by introducing them to creative outlets like music and dance in order to pass on and encourage valuable life skills.

Watch the new video featuring the Dharavi Rocks band below:


If you’re interested in supporting Dharavi Rocks and ACORN India, click the button or check out the information provided on the flyer below.

ACORN India, COVID relief in India, COVID crisis in India

ACORN India: Vaccines and PPE distribution as COVID Relief efforts continue

ACORN India organizers prepare to distribute rations to communities affected by COVID-19

From providing resources like reliable taxi services to quarantine isolation centers, to handing out food rations and speaking out against police malpractice, ACORN India has been hard at work as organizers mobilized quickly as the COVID crisis worsened within the country.

Dharmendra Kumar, of the ACORN India affiliate Hawkers’ Joint Action Committee, reported that they have received more than 250 calls in the last two weeks from community members, and are providing relief services that include distributing food kits, registering people for the COVID vaccine, helping with applications for credit assistance from the government, and offering counseling to patients with COVID.

Food kits provide valuable resources such as kitchen staples and PPE masks

Farther south in Bengaluru, organizers have reported that they’ve distributed 200 food kits — approximately 14,000 meals — as well as additional food and hygiene kits in Hebbal and Yelahanka areas. ACORN members also received services such as credit application assistance, and some informal workers also received their official ACORN ID cards. ID cards have been an especially difficult aspect of COVID for informal workers and migrant laborers, who previously needed them in order to receive food rations from the government before the governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana loosened restrictions. These governments also recently announced that they would open a community kitchen and begin advertisements for places that would assist stranded migrant laborers.


Although the government of India has begun to provide a modicum of COVID relief, ACORN India still needs your help!

Check out the link below to donate, or get involved through the information on the flyer.

ACORN India, COVID relief in India, COVID crisis in India

ACORN India: Food donations to vendors continues

ACORN India, COVID relief in India, COVID crisis in India

As India grapples with the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, ACORN India members and affiliates have stepped in to provide resources to local communities in need.

In Bengaluru, organizers helped distribute food kits to approximately 100 vendors, many of whom are out of work due to the pandemic. These kits include kitchen staples and dry rations, as well as PPE equipment.

A standard dry-ration kit with PPE products, meant to last for 1 week for a family of 5

Although informal workers make up nearly 93% of India’s working population, they are still a relatively unprotected and vulnerable group. Dharmendra Kumar, member of the Hawkers’ Joint Action Committee in Delhi, was quoted in the press recently speaking of the lack of adequate medical supplies:

As far as street vendors are concerned, with most of them being migrants, there are not many people here whom they can approach for assistance – especially in today’s time when even the well-off groups are finding themselves helpless.

ACORN India, COVID relief in India, COVID crisis in India

ACORN India needs your help. If you are interested in donating to our organizers, click the link below:


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