The beginning
In 1976, when a group of about eight young people decided to intervene to
improve the exploitative conditions under which the coolies (loading and
unloading workers) of the Secunderabad railway station worked, the seeds of APSA
were sown. By 1981, APSA was formally registered and the coolies were sitting
across the table from their employers, negotiating on new terms of strength.
However, their untold suffering and the search for their liberation had led
APSA's workers on a path of more questions than answers, making their future
more complex and uncertain. The problem was not merely of a solitary exploited
section of workers, but of young children on the streets with no choice but to
work for a living, of urban slums and new migrants to the cities with no skills
with which to negotiate the system. (photos 50, 51)
APSA grew, impelled by the collective will of a few activists determined to make a change in the uncertain and exploitative contexts in which these human beings tried to solve problems of survival and to build decent lives. APSA's history too has been one of survival against any challenges. Today, APSA with its team of professionals and activists has over ten different projects in Hyderbad and Bangalore, testifying to its ability to empower the dispossessed to fight for their own rights.