India is a democratic country and equality is a soul of a democracy. People are yet treated unequally. Kanta, Ansari, Melani, Swapna are some of the examples who suffered inequality because they lack resources. These are people who came together to fight against inequality.

Hailing from an extremely remote village named Ayatapur, in Khurdha district of Odisha, the journey of Manasi Pradhan is a tale of immense struggle and undaunted spirit in the face of mountain-like odds.
Resolute to porve herself, she walked over 15 kms daily by foot, amidst hilly terrain and swamps, to the only school in those times in the entire region, to emerge as the first women matriculate of her school.
But a mountain-like obstacle lay ahead with no college in the entire region and the poverty-stricken family with no resources to fund their daughter to a far off college.
Nevertheless, undeterred both by poverty and immense social ostracisation that women education carried within it in those time, she landed in the Odishan town of Puri, over 200km away from her remote village, with loads of dream and an empty pocket.
Resolute not to let down her dreams at any cost, it was a relentless struggle for a 16-year old girl, both to fund her own higher education as well as sustain . her family that was fast drowning into abject poverty.
But undaunted, it was her never-say-die spirit that was finally to emerge victorious. Against all odds, she was not just able to fund her education and family, working tirelessly throughout the day, but also emerged as one of the tallest student leader of her time, leading the famous 1980 Student Movement in Odisha as its convenor.

The fish workers increased their earnings after the TMS took over as
(i) They formed cooperatives which would buy the catch from them at good prices.
(ii) Cooperatives would then arrange transport and sell this catch in markets at fair prices.
(iii) This all led to increases in their earnings by three times.
(iv) The TMS also provided loans for repair and purchasing new nets to fish workers.
TMS has proved that when people's organisations get their rights they become good managers and this has been proved as they managed to earn higher wages and preserved fishes in the reservoir.

In India and round the world, there are people who are known and respected because they work for equality. These are people who raise their voice against discrimination. They are well-respected as they treat all persons with dignity and solve all issues in the community.
Some of the people are recognised on a wide scale as they represent large number of people who have come together to address a specific issue of inequality. India has seen a large number of struggles where people came together to fight for issues that they consider as important. There are several methods used by women's movement to raise the issue of inequality. Just like women's movement there is an example of Tawa Matsya Sangh in Madhya Pradesh where people united to raise their problems and fight for them. There are many groups who are struggling for justice in their own way for example beedi workers, slum dwellers, fisherfolk, agricultural labourers, etc. Efforts have been made by people to form cooperatives in order to have more control over resources.

The recently formed Tawa Matsya Sangh (TMS) held rallies and a chakka jam in order to get their rights, to do fishing and earn their livelihood. The government formed a committee to assess the issue.
The committee suggested that fishing rights should be granted to the villagers for their livelihood. The Madhya Pradesh government gave fishing rights for the reservoir to the people displaced by Tawa dam in 1996. After two months, the five-year lease agreement was signed. And on 2nd January 1997 people of 33 villages began their new year with the first catch.

The movements, songs and poems recognise all people as equal because these all are based on justice and equality. The Constitution of India recognises all persons as equal. All movements and struggles which occur refer to Indian Constitution to make their point regarding equality and justice.
This is the reason why the fish workers participated in movements organised by Tawa Matsya Sangh. The Constitution of India has been known as a 'living document' because it has real meaning in our lives.
There are people in the democracy who try to broaden the concept of democracy and work towards a greater recognition of equality on existing as well as new issues.
Problems related to equality are central to democracy and we have seen such issues which challenge the idea of equality in a democracy. It is necessary to have enough resources to support and nurture families and to act against any discrimination in order to earn dignity and self-respect.