In the heart of UP’s gun country, “trigger-happy youths” spend their days honing their shooting skills. The sound of gunfire reverberates from makeshift tin sheds erected all over rural Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar. But crime is the last thing on the minds of these youths, who have their sights set on the target ahead—gold in an international championship.

Ravi Jatav, the 20-year-old son of a Dalit brick-kiln worker, has already visited four foreign countries representing the country in rifle-shooting. “Otherwise, we would have been playing gilli-danda,” says Jatav, making an enthusiastic effort to speak in English.

Nearby, Neetu is training youths in rifle shooting. Using borrowed guns, she has set up a firing range under a large sheesham tree. “I wanted to pass on my skills to village youths who lack other opportunities,” says Neetu, a national shooter, who is now pursuing her postgraduation.

Back in Johadi, 16-year-old Arvind Tomar trundles in his wheel-chair to the tin-shed shooting range in the mosque compound. He pulls himself up to the raised platform, eagerly picks up an air pistol and takes a shot at the rusted target, cool enough to justify his Sports Authority of India (SAI) scholarship.

Dr Rajpal Singh, who started the first rifle shooting camp in Johadi way back in 1998, says today there are at least 20 such camps in the area, training around 400 shooters. “This is a phenomenon unique to this region,” he claims, adding that shooters who learnt their trade here have now set up camps in towns like Baraut, Binoli, Khekra, Sirsali, Chhapprauli, Khekra and Shamli.

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