Case Studies

New Horizons for New Hope

Irrespective of much-hyped government welfare schemes like Antyodaya Card and others meant for people below the poverty line, the residents of Chandupur, a small village in Hamirpur District of Bundelkhand region, had been completely at the mercy of the ration card shopkeepers and money lenders for a long time.

Chhutakiya, a 35-year old woman and wife of Shree Ram, belongs to the fisherman family and is one classical example of people who have been deprived of benefits of such schemes. Her case is also a pointer to the loopholes existing in our government machinery. Since Chhutakiya belonged to the Scheduled Castes and comes in the BPL (Below Poverty Line) category, she was made aware of the Antyodaya Card Government Scheme under which an eligible person is provided with a ration card. What she did not know was that the ration supplied will be free of cost.

Hence when she approached the ration shop owner Ram Babu, he asked her to pay Rs 150 as a charge for making the card. In her own words she says, "Jo koi paisa det hai unhain ko Kotedar galla det hai" (One who pays gets the grains.)

Someone who is below poverty line and for whom the government takes the responsibility to feed cannot be expected to have an amount of Rs 150 to buy food. This was exactly what happened to Chhutakiya. But she went out of her way and somehow arranged the amount in order to be able to feed her family of four sons and one daughter.

After Chhutakiya was totally disappointed, a sympathetic friend in the village told her about the Parivartan Pariyojana which is working for people like her and helping them lead a better life. She found out more about the project and decided to attend the VDC (Village Development Committee) meeting, held twice a week, and chose to put forth her problem in front of the committee. Her husband tried to suppress her decision and told her that her efforts will go in vain. But she remained determined to go ahead. She put forth her problem in front of the VDC members. Once the matter was brought out into light, it was revealed that the shopkeeper had been fooling the other villagers also in the same manner.

The awareness created by the Privartan Project people led the other women of the village to protest against this act of the ration shopkeeper. The women also promised that they would get Chhutakiya’s money back. The women who had now become the members of SHG (Self Helping Group) decided on a date when they would protest in front of his shop. The shopkeeper somehow got to know about the steps that were being planned against him and before that particular date he went to Chhutakiya’s home and returned her money. He was scared of the action that the committee or the authorities concerned would take against him.

The Parivartna Pariyojna thus proved to be a boon to the needy and the destitute. Difficulty and impossibility hence vanished with the efforts of the Parivartan Project. Now this village has much more aware residents and people who can demand and fight for their own rights.

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