Unavailability of medical services is consigning a patient to a death sentence.

What keeps most women off the uphill battle are mounting legal expenses through this time.

"If the husband of a woman goes to jail, what will the wife depend on for her livelihood and where lies her freedom?" asked lawyer Sadhana Dwivedi.

Though meters were installed over a year ago, around 50 houses in the Gujwa Majra village have never been connected to the electric grid.

Paying the bribe – almost 20% of the cost of the house to be built – is depriving families of housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin.

An increasing number of farmers are receiving bank notices, and unable to pay off the loan, are killing themselves.

'One District, One Product' introduced in Gaurahari village is an example of handicraft and livelihood development schemes often being abandoned in the middle, leaving traditional artisans to fend for themselves.

Population control policies have been around since the 1950s, but medical services remain to be poor.

Apart from delayed payments, residents of this UP village also complain of missing job cards and foul play by local authorities.

Several families who were encouraged to construct toilets were later told that their names don’t figure in the list of households who have been allotted funds.

Samrat village in Uttar Pradesh's Mahoba reflects the gap between the number of people who have been issued cards and the actual number who have received benefits.

While surgical deliveries can be provided only at care centres at the CHC-level, Madawara’s CHC is severely ill-equipped.

Dalit residents in the state's Chitrakoot region are being denied access to water sources by upper castes.

In Nahari village in Banda district, farmers have been denied long promised loan-waivers even as local banks have served them notices regarding non-payment of dues.

Kanshiram colony, built for the poor and located just yards away from the 'holy site', presents differing voices on how its residents have or have not been served by various governments.

In Uttar Pradesh's Jayapur village, development is confined to the edges while the settlements belonging to the Dalit community are in shambles. 

Untouched by even basic human development interventions, the reach of social media in spreading information across every household and making matters heard has been transformative in Bilari.

A lawyer by profession, Meera Bharti – the Swatantra Janta Party candidate from Banda-Chitrakoot – rose up the ranks through her social activism and advocacy for Dalit rights and gender equality.

They have affirmed that the political boycott will remain until their demands for water, road transport and inclusion into the Scheduled Tribes are fulfilled.

A constant fixture in Bundelkhand politics since 1991, though Mishra's attendance in parliament was exemplary, on the ground, many question his performance as an MP.