Gyanti is aVV-PACS Correspondentfrom Siwan district in Bihar. She had worked as a Tola worker in her village, where she raised awareness on cleanliness and hygiene among people. For the past year, she has been associated with the MusaharVikasManchan organization that works for the social inclusion of the Musahar community of Bihar. She wants to focus her work on bringing…

Gyanti KUmari

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Pushpa Devi wanted a house. She had dreams of raising her children in a proper house in contrast to a bamboo hut that barely protects them from even the minutest of a hitch. Her dreams took her way from the shadows of a house beyond to the lucidness of a home. One fine day, executives from the Indira Awaas Yojana came for a field visit. After a quick interaction, she realized she's qualified to get a house under the IAY scheme. The house of her dreams. With a lot of hard work and diligence, she got her documents into place- BPL card, ration card, id proof and other requisite documents. She took her application to the Village Head to apply for a grant under the IAY scheme. The only pre-requisite to get the benefits under the scheme is that the applicant should belong to rural BPL household and the name should exist in the BPL List. Pushpa had already overdone her part and was sure that her house will be built by end of this year. The monsoons would be a bliss in the new house. When Pushpa went to submit her papers, he asked for INR 10000 to receive her application. Only to receive her application. Pushpa didn't have any money to pay him and returned into her gloomy routine. Like Pushpa, a lot of other women tried to apply for the IAY benefits. But the Village Head rejects the applications at his whim. Sometimes because he doesn't like their caste and mostly, because they don't have money to pay him. In one instance, he took INR 10000 and then INR 5000 from a family. To pay him, they borrowed the money in hope that a brighter, healthier future will compensate for repayment tenure. They still don't have a house. Everyone knows that the Village Head is corrupt, biased and audacious. They are afraid of him. Community Correspondent Gyanti Kumari wants to take action. Enough times have the already marginalized suffered. Call To Action: You can help Gyanti by calling the Block Development Officer, Bhagvanpur Hat, Siwan district, Bihar at +91-9431818445 and demand immediate action against the Village Head. About the Partnership: The Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme and Video Volunteers have come together to create the Community Correspondents Network. The videos generated by the network will be able to highlight voices from the margins, providing skills to social communicators to provide advocacy tools to community based organizations.