Dilli Dehat Project Information

Dilli Dehat Project is a community-led archive and storytelling initiative that documents the rural histories, cultures, and lived realities of Delhi’s villages. Long before flyovers, metro lines, and glass towers, Delhi existed as a network of 300+ villages, each with its own memory, ecology, and social fabric. As the city expanded, these villages were absorbed into the urban landscape, often without recognition, planning, or preservation of their identities. Today, they exist in a state of transition, neither fully rural nor fully urban shaped by rapid development, displacement, and shifting socio-economic realities. Dilli Dehat works to document and preserve these layered histories through oral narratives, photographs, local knowledge systems, rituals, and everyday practices. From chaupals and johads to kuldevis and ridge commons, the project captures what often remains invisible in mainstream narratives of Delhi. At its core, the project is not just about nostalgia. It is about reclaiming space, memory, and authorship. It seeks to centre the voices of communities whose stories are frequently overlooked while also building a shared understanding of how caste, land, labour, migration, and urbanisation intersect in shaping the city. Through digital archives, public exhibitions, research, and collaborations, Dilli Dehat contributes to reimagining Delhi as not just a city of migrants, but also a city of villages. The project also actively engages with youth and community members to co-create knowledge, ensuring that documentation is participatory, grounded, and reflective of lived experience. Dilli Dehat is an ongoing effort to make the invisible visible, and to ensure that as Delhi grows, it does not forget the ground it stands on. Founded by Puneet Singh Singhal, and co-founded by Gagandeep Singh, and Parth Shokeen.