Geeta Devi, a widow from Uttar Pradesh (UP) village has been left to fend for herself and her family since her husband died last year.
Governments, central and state, have both formulated various schemes to give financial assistance to help families that are Below Poverty Line (BPL). However, welfare schemes like UP's Samajwadi Pension Yojana and Central government's National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) have not come to Geeta's rescue. She lost her husband due to utter poverty since she had no money and now, her family of nine risks death by starvation due to the same reason. "I had requested Sarpanach, the village head to fill up the form for pension of Rs. 20,000. But it's been one year and there is no pension," says Geeta. Her husband's work compensation for MGNREGA has been missing too.
Had any of these compensations come through, her husband would have been alive today. "The doctors said that the treatment would cost nearly Rs. 20,000. Even if I would have received Rs. 10,000 I would have joined some money and saved my husband." Life for Geeta now is constant struggle as she switches between menial jobs to earn a living and pay off debts of her husband's medical bills. "Sometimes we don't have any food because I have to pay off the debt of Rs. 7,000 from the medical bills," confesses a tired Geeta.
Despite of several welfare, health and employment schemes for the marginalised population in rural India, the benefits are not reaching the needy because of corruption, unaccountability and unawareness on part of the the population. Let us reverse this cycle and help Geeta Devi get the compensation she rightly deserves. Call up the Block Development Officer of Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh on +919464465125.
This video was made by a Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Anil Kumar Saroj.
Community Correspondents come from marginalized communities in India and produce videos on unreported stories. These stories are ’news by those who live it.’ They give the hyperlocal context to global human rights and development challenges. See more such videos at www.videovolunteers.org. Take action for a more just global media by sharing their videos and joining in their call for change.
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