VV-PACS Community Correspondent Satyendra from Mau district, Uttar Pradesh reports on how the government addresses the needs of people with disability.
In Chichor village, both Kusum Devi and Ravindranath, who are physically disabled have not received the benefit of Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension in spite of submitting several applications and approaching the Village Head. This isn't just the story of one family. There are around 35 people more from the village who are yet to benefit from the scheme.
"They say my work will be done only when I pay them a bribe" says Kusum Devi. "We don't get any financial assistance or support from the government" adds Ravindranath.
What is the point of such welfare schemes if people can't avail the benefits? Meanwhile people like Kusum Devi and Ravindranath languish in extreme poverty wondering how to engage with the bureaucracy so that their meagre pensions can be availed.
Call to Action: To help you can call Lal Bihari Ram, Secretary of Village Council, Mau on 9452749251 and ask him to provide Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension to all the physically disabled people in Chichor village.
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 organisations.
No Cards
The article argues that systematically ignoring and silencing the voices of the poor and marginalized worldwide does not serve society or democracy well and must be countered. While new technologies such as AI could provide an opportunity for change, we contend that these technologies need to account more effectively for...
Impact Story
When the staff at Gannett newspapers in the US coined the term MOJO (Mobile Journalism) to describe new ways of gathering and distributing news using emerging technologies in 2005, they would not have imagined its virality and use ten years later. Ask new media journalists and our Community Correspondents Shah...