About 160 families living in Chotibhesdira village, Katihar district, Bihar have not received their Below Poverty Line cards. VV-PACS Community Correspondent Navita from Katihar, Bihar reports on the condition of this community.
"People who have tractors and land, they are getting Below poverty line cards & people who don’t even have a house to live in are given Above poverty line cards’ says Ramshankar Bhagat.
"We have informed the Village Head several times but he makes some excuse each time", adds Parvati Masomat.
Despite submitting applications many times, the poor families are running from pillar to post to get the BPL cards. People living below the poverty line are not getting the benefits of welfare scheme due to corrupt and lousy system. In spite of continuous efforts towards improving the methodology of the BPL census, a significant difference between the estimated and the identified poor still persists. Errors in identifying the exact numbers of poor people shows how weak the coordination is between the state government and civil society in planning, implementing and monitoring the process.
Keeping in mind the current state of affairs, the real question is how do we strengthen community monitoring? Need of the hour is public participation in deciding the parameters.
Call to Action: You can help by calling Rajendra Paswan, Village Head, Chotibhesdira village, Katihar district, Bihar on 07631943304 and ask him to help the B.P.L families in Chotibhesdira get their B.P.L cards.
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.
Fighting for Change: The Story of Bihar-Based Journalist Amir Abbas
Inspiration can come from many sources, but one of the most powerful is seeing someone walk the path before you. Our Community Correspondent, Syed Amir Abbas found his inspiration in Stalin K., the founding director of Video Volunteers. “I met Stalin at VV’s national meet in 2017 and I...
Take Action
A bridge about to collapse in Bihar
The bridge that was built by the British is slowly chipping off, and fatal accidents are a regular occurrence there. The villagers along with our Community Correspondent are requesting the Government officials to repair this bridge. They are getting assurance that the repair work will start soon though it...