Mahesh Kumar- Village Kara, District Kosambi, Uttar Pradesh Mahesh Kumar primarily reports on issues related to caste discrimination and equal rights . Mahesh Kumar became aware of his lower caste status when he began school. Teachers and peers constantly humiliated him on the basis of his caste. Lower caste members are often discouraged from attending school. The constant discrimination lowered…

Mahesh Kumar

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The Indira Awaas (Housing) Scheme is a 1985 Indian government initiated social welfare program created to provide housing for the rural underprivileged in India.  Rampatti Devi from village Ambai Bujurg, district Kausambi, Uttar Pradesh is one of 200 Dalit people who has not been receiving the benefits of this scheme.  She and her family were forced to live in the house even after the monsoons had torn through its roof and walls. Left vulnerable to the forces of nature,  her daughter was killed when a poisonous snake bit her.  Rampatti believes that if her house had been in a good condition the incident could have been avoided.  By having access to the Indira Awaas Scheme her house could have received the necessary repairs it needed to make it weather and wildlife proof. Despite having appealed to the Village Head several times nothing was done to help her access funds from the scheme.  She believes that the Village Head is not doing his job properly and purposely is not helping her.   The duty of the Village Head is to ensure that all residents of the village have equal and regular access to all benefits provided by the government.  They are essentially facilitators between the government and the people. VV-PACS Community Correspondent Mahesh Kumar demands that this community gets access to the Indira Awaas Scheme so that their quality of life can improve.   The Indira Awaas Yojana is one of the main projects for the Rural Development Ministry to construct houses for people living below the poverty line.  Financial assistance worth 70,000 INR in plain areas and 75,000 INR in altitude areas is provided for the construction of houses.  The houses are placed in the name of the women or jointly between husband and wife.  No contractors are allowed, as it is up to the people in the villages to construct their houses themselves.  Additional financial assistance is available from Total Sanitation Campaign and Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana for the required sanitary latrine and smokeless chullah (stove).   Mahesh would like you to put pressure on the authorities to ensure this community to have their rightful access to the Indira Awaas Yojana scheme.   Please Call: Village Head Ambai Bujurg Village Kaushambi District Uttar Pradesh Tel: 8756832668   Request him to ensure that Rampatti Devi and her community start receiving the Indira Awaas scheme immediately.   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.