Makulal, a poor widow of Bihar has not received any widow pension fund under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) since her husband died a decade ago. She would earlier do manual labour for a living, but her failing health has forced her to stop working. She and her young daughter are struggling to make ends meet.
Just like Makulal, 19 other widows from Bihar's Amgachi village in Araria district are being denied their pension due to lack of documents which attest them as belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL). Indian widows are ostracised by the society as unlucky, jinxed and are often not given a job due to the social bias. Formerly dependent on their husbands and lacking education, on the death of their husbands, these women, are shunned by their families and are forced to take up menial jobs for the sake of their family.
Sita Devi, Video Volunteers' community correspondent, from the same district has taken up their cause to get them their pension. She has appealed to the Block Development Officer (BDO) to start the process for BPL certification at the earliest. You can help Sita and the widows by calling the BDO on +91 9431818315 and appeal him to fasten the process.
This video was made by a Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Sita Devi.
Community Correspondents come from marginalised 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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