PARI (People’s Archive of Rural India), one of the winners from the Social category of Marico Innovation Foundation’s Indian Innovation Icons 2025, has been preserving the diverse voices of Rural India for the past 10 years. With 800 languages, thousands of traditions, and countless untold stories, PARI has documented 2,000 stories in 14 languages—capturing the lives of farmers, fisherfolk, weavers, and protestors before they fade from memory. MIF’s Indian Innovation Icons is a platform that rec

In the interiors of Chhattisgarh, 42-year-old Maniram Mandawi plays a unique musical instrument — the swinging flute. Made from bamboo, the instrument is played by waving the stick in different directions. In this video shared by the People’s Archive of Rural India, Mandawi, a flute-maker from the Gond Adivasi community in the Narayanpur district, shares how the instrument was used not just to play music but also to ward off animals back in the day. VC: People's Archive of Rural India | TheBette