INSTILLING THE THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE & LEARNINGThis is the story of an Indian tribal man and the onset of a thirst for learning in him as a result of the nudge given by the Soochna Seva team. The story revolves around 40-year-old Bharat Singh Bheel (son of Gyan Singh Bheel) who could only study till Grade VIII but had passed with middle class division. Bheel has four children and owns 40 to 50 acres of land. Though his wife is an anganwadi worker, it’s actually him who carries out all the anganwadi duties. One day, the local Soochna…
THE TOIL FOR THE DAILY MEAL – MADE EASY BY THE SOOCHNA SEVA TEAM!This is the story about an intervention by a Soochna Seva team that simplified the efforts of the innocent and unaware villagers of Meriyakhedi Khurd in Madhya Pradesh in acquiring their daily bread. A public distribution shop, also known as fair price shop (FPS), is a part of India's public distribution system established by Government of India which distributes rations at a subsidized price to the poor. Locally these are known as "ration shops". The process of getting ration from the ration…
YOU DID A COMMENDABLE JOB!Ratan Lal Paardi, a resident of Pardichak village struggles daily to make both ends meet. He had, if nothing else, at least the support of an old age pension until a few months back. But, for some reason he was deprived of this benefit too. He sent a plea to the Gram Panchayat to get his pension benefits restored but since he was not good at drafting an application, it was repeatedly rejected for not following the due application format. Due to this, he couldn’t receive his pension. He got…
SOOCHNA SEVA ENLIGHTENING DISTERESSED VILLAGERS ON USE OF RTISuneel Sen, approached the Soochna Seva Kendra, Aron, M.P. Suneel Sen of Aron in Madhya Pradesh was put on the waiting list of candidates seeking appointment as the supervisor in the Women and Child Development Department. Though he was at the second position, the candidate at the third position who was older than Sen was selected. Sen sought information from the department about the basis of this recruitment but was refused any disclosure. The Block Coordinator, Sachindra Bhargava, at the…
Weeding Out MythsTwenty-seven-year-old Kalam Bai w/o (wife of Pratap Singh Bhilala) and 25-year-old Sushma Bai (wife of Sonu Bhilala) are residents of village Hathikhundan of Guna district in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Kalma Bai had already given birth to four times, all of which were non-institutional deliveries. However, one of them, a male child, died a couple of days after his birth. She was now pregnant with her fifth child. On the other hand, Sushma Bai, who was already a mother of a daughter, a…
Social Security PensionThis story is of 72-year-old Doli Bai, wife of Dhan Singh, who lives in Tajpur village which falls under the Gram Panchayat of Bhidra, Madhya Pradesh. Doli Bai used to receive her old age pension regularly until suddenly the payments ceased in February 2015. Due to lack of information and repeatedly filling the application incorrectly, or leaving some information incomple, the woman had to face disappointment every time. In June 2015, she happened to meet a Soochna Sevak, Nagma, and narrated…
Fighting malnutrition amid resistanceThis is the story of an Anganwadi worker from the Gram Panchayat of Lakshmanpura. Munni Rajput, wife of Bhoor Singh, is an aanganwadi worker who words with the Bheel community in Lakshamanpura village, in Raghogarh block of Guna district, Madhya Pradesh. As part of her role and responsibility, Munni collects information on pregnant women and women with new born babies, besides malnourished children. However, she finds it extremely difficult to make the community members take her advice. Munni…
Digitally abled students find job securityThere is a village called Nizampur in Khatakiya panchayat where there are 50 households but a population of 600 people. Harijan and Kevats reside in this village on the banks of river Parvati, which is suitable for growing khareef crops like soyabean and corn; and rabi crops like wheat, gram, coriander and some vegetables. Therefore, most people in this village own agricultural lands or work on these lands as labourers. When Soochna Sevak Naval Kushwaha visited this village once to create…
Providing nutrition, love and careGram Panchayat Laharcha, located close to the Beengaon National Highway in Madhya Pradesh, is home to about 130 households and a total population of 1,010. The area is mostly inhabited by tribes like Lodha, Meena, Harijan and Shivhare, among others. Fifty-five-year-old Mukhia Dojiram Ahirvaan lives in a harijan locality with his wife, two sons , three daughters — and three grandchildren. Only two of the 11 family members contribute to the household income as manual labourers and…
Not just a piece of paperBrajesh, son of Nathu Lal, is a resident of Kanjarpura village, which comes under Sakonya Gram Panchayat of tehsil Raghogardh in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. A Scheduled Tribe and 30 years of, Brajesh lives with his wife and four children; and earns his living through manual labour. This village lives in complete information darkness — there is no Internet, no television and not even newspapers are delivered here. There is nobody to give him relevant or timely information. One day,…
Setting things straightThe residents of dehrikalan village, aron block were left in a state of shock when they discovered that their own community member is robbing their share of government allotted food ration. The man from past 1 year was intentionally deceiving his own community by stealing their ration from the control department shop. The villagers struggled to survive the long wait for timely food rations. For a while, they even approached government authorities but failed to fix the issue. Recently,…
Upendra made his dream of higher studies a reality with Soochna Seva Kendra helpUpendra, a Balmiki (scavenger) community boy, could not continue his studies after 5th standard due to his family’s economic distress. Later, when domestic life finally began showing some signs of improvement he thought of completing his schooling. His education aspirations were almost shattered when he could not obtain ‘gap certificate’ and ‘5th class passing certificate’ mandatory for school admission, despite trying hard for it for 2 years. Upendra was a dropout and without these…
RAISING THE AWARENESS OF THE IGNORANT!This narrates the story of Narmadi Bai (64 years) who was not even aware of the fact that she was actually entitled to receive pension but the assistance of Soochna Seva helped her avail this benefit. One day while the Soochna Seva team was visiting BPL families in a remote village called Madhusudhangarh of Guna district of state of Madhya Pradesh, they came across a small hut where lived a below poverty family of Narmardi Bai with small malnourished children and destitute elderly…
Thirsty Soochna Sevak - a broken Hand PumpBarkhedi Maharaj is a small village which lies on the State Highway 38. Believing that division of work area takes the work to every door and brings efficiency Bhure Singh Narwariya was assigned to work on this village. While on the field Bhure Singh was thirsty so thought to use the hand pump. When he was trying to fetch water from the hand pump there was no water in it. On enquiry he learned that this hand pump is out of order for last two month. Bhoore Singh thought out loud ‘I was…
A stitch on time saves nineSoochna Seva Kendra Chachoda is very far from the district Headquarters. National Highway 3, historically known as Agra- Bombay Road was built by British when they moved the capital to Delhi from Kolkatta. This road connects Guna and Chanchoda. Once this road was an ‘A’ class road, but these days it’s in bad conditions. Accidents are very frequent. In the month of April when Soochna Seva Guna team held it’s Monthly Meeting at SSK Chachoda. While returning from the meeting…
‘An Unusual Another Day' (Ek anokha sa ek aur din)It was one of theusual day for 63-year-old Dhan Lal Pita, a laborer by profession. Being aware of a camp organized by Soochna Seva team his village-Pathar Colony, he thought to visit. He hopefully expressed his state, ‘I don’t get pension, what should I do?’ On checking his identity card and ration card, the team was surprised to know he hasn’t got pension for 3 years besides him being 63. The team on 29 April 2016 quickly rushed to fill a request in the village panchayat. After…
A new service in the basket, Umri Panchyat, Madhya PradeshPAN or Permanent Account Number is 8 digit number issued by Income Tax Department and is one of the most important document these days. Primarily, it is used as an identity proof to avail the benefit of some public schemes and entitlements in the rural areas. People from the villages have to travel to Guna block for generating pan card and were forced to invest high amount including travel, a day wage and bribe. Soochna Seva Kendra in Umri Panchayat, Madhya Pradesh paid heed to this concern…
Information is PowerShiri. Bala Pardi who met with an accident and subsequently succumbed to injury, had his insurance claim pending. This incident came to light when Soochna Seva team visited Pardi Chak of Muradpur Panchayat. Smt. Hema Bai with the assistance of Shri. Shyam Pardi (Mobile No: 7389650049) had already submitted the paper to the company. In response to these submissions, company had sent a post explaining the policy details and benefits stipulated in the policy. Unfortunately, Hema Bai is not…
Meriyakhedi villagers receives Aadhar card after a long waitIn January 2015, Soochna Seva team of Chanchoura helped Pream Ahirwar of Meriyakhedi village to open up a bank account under ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna’. He also took Soochna Seva team’s assistance in availing Aadhar card in March 2015. Soochna Seva team and Meriyakhedi residents were waiting for the Aadhaar cards. Usually Aadhaar cards reach an individual’s house through post within two months. But the wait continued for three months and all the applicants were desperate to receive…
- Mukesh Yadav (Soochna Sevak) helped Parmal singh to get his account number from a Kiosk.
Kanti a village in lakshmanpura panchayat is about thirty five kilometers from Raghogarh Block. This village is a Bhil village. Shri. Parmal Singh, aged 45 is one of the residents of this village. He and his five member family is simple minded people. In the month of January 2015, people were eagerly opening accounts under PMJDY scheme. Parmal Singh who was inquisitive about this eagerness among his neighbors wanted to know more about the scheme. He learnt that everybody is opening her account…
- Kundan Singh Silawat gets the benefit of ‘Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojana’
Kundan Singh Silawat is a resident of Garkheda Panchayat’s Bachi village. Shiri. Kundan Singh’s daughter, Kaushalya was about to get married. But Kundan Singh did not had enough money to undertake the endeavour so he thought of getting assistance from Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojna for this he also discussed it with his relatives and brought them overboard. He approached the concern officials at Budhana Village and noted down the required documents. Though he had all the information he was…
‘Hum Kar Rahe Hai Na’Based on the stands social organizations often takes they are labeled as anti-govt. However these days this perception has changed and a mutual understanding between the two has developed, though it swings between positivity to negativity as per the situation and conditions. Since the nature of Soochna Seva’s work is in line with Government’s social arm, cooperation between the two is natural and will strengthen each other. Bearing this in mind, Soochna Seva was looking for mutual…
- Hand pump repaired by PHE dept. officials though constant monitoring by Soochna Sevak, Bhoore Singh, in Aron block
One of the Soochna Seva team members, Bhure Singh was assigned the task to go for a door-to-door visit in Barkhedi Maharaj village that lies on the State Highway 38 in Madhya Pradesh. While he was strolling in the village to meet the locals he got tired and was thirsty. So he searched for nearby hand-pumps and after finding one he tried to draw water but no water came out of the nozzle. He questioned a passerby and learned that the hand pump was out of order for the last two month. He felt…
A little awareness made a group of 20 farmers of Bhidra village to avail large benefitsIn Madhya Pradesh, nearly 71% of the population is directly involved in agriculture. Every year farmers face crop failure due to various reasons like unproductive seeds, climate change and many more. Rastriya Dalhan Utpaad Yojana, is a small part under the umbrella of ‘Rashtriya Kirshi Vikas Yojana’ by agriculture department. The main objective of this yojana is to improve the crop production by distributing good quality pulse seeds that are pre-tested in the laboratories. Rajaram…
Pahalwan Singh ends his dilemma and registers his daughter under sukanya samridhi yojana.During a door-to-door visit in Julapaani village of Mariyakhedi Khurd panchayat in Guna, Soochna Sevak, Babulal Bheel, informed Pahalwan Singh Bheel about the schemes/entitlements that he and his family were eligible for. After examining the status of family the Soochna Sevak suggested him to get his 7-yr daughter registered under ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana’ by depositing 1000 rupees per year till she turns 14 year of age. And as mandate she can receive all the money once she attain the…
Soochna Seva intervenes to get out-of-order hand-pump repairedThe hand pump of Primary School in Negma village went out-of-order in May. After a few days, the school closed for summer vacations and the hand-pump remain unattended in May-June. After the classes resumed, the lack of potable water disrupted the distribution of Mid-Day Meals and forced students to stay thirsty for hours. Locals, principal of the school, gram panchayat, and the Self Help Group, who looks after the MDM, wrote letters to the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department by no…
Soochna Sevaks expedite clearance of pending salaries of ASHA workersOn a hot summer afternoon on July 29, 2015, two Soochna Sevaks in Guna district visited the Sub Primary Hospital of Umri village and met ASHA workers who expressed their grievance of not receiving their salaries for the last three months. Understanding the urgency of the situation as the families of most of these workers depend on them financially, Soochna Sevaks contacted the Block Medical Officer Ms Sarojini J Baig. She without delay asked them to contact Mr Durgesh Sharma, in-charge of…
- Soochna Seva team takes injured to the hospital through Janani Suraksha Vahan.
The Guna Soochna Seva team was returning home after completing their monthly meeting at the Soochna Seva Kendra (SSK) at Chanchoura block when they witnessed an accident that took place a few meters before the Parvati river on the National Highway 3.This road connects Guna and Chanchoura and prone to accidents due to poor road conditions. The victims were severely injured and needed immediate medical assistance. The Soochna Seva team spotted a Janani Suraksha Vahan and asked the driver to…
Soochna Seva team at Aron goes a step forward and helps the villagers to get their hand-pump repaired by PHE dept.Few years ago, people at Dehari Kalan village in Aron block were overjoyed when a new hand-pump was installed in their village. It eased their trouble of fetching water. Ladies were not forced to travel long distance and carry the water pots over their head. It also quenched the thirst of people whenever they were thirst and also helped villagers to feed their cattle with water. But to their dismay all their comfort came to an end when the only hand pump in the village broke down. All of a…
Radha Bai gets the benefits of Janani Surakshya Yojna with the help of Soochna Seva teamJanani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among the pregnant women. JSY integrates cash assistance with antenatal, intranatal & postnatal care. Soochna Seva team was explaining about Jannani Surakshya Yojna in Devpur, a small village in Raghogarh Block on April 26, 2015. After the session was over, Ram…
Soochna Seva team helps Khubchand to avail compensation for his lossKhubchand Prajapati is a small scale farmer. He has been living in Dehari Kalan village since childhood. He and his family depend entirely on farming. He keeps all his agriculture equipment at field. One day while working a fire broke out in his field and engulfed everything. Since he was alone, he could not control the fire. As a result, his pipes which were approximately 150 in numbers were destroyed. They were used to irrigate the field. On May 12, 2015 Kaluram Prajapati son of Khoobchand…
From a guard to a computer geek, a success story from the Soochna Seva Kendra, ChachodaSoochna Seva project aims to deliver basic computer skills among the rural population. So a center is set up in rural pockets and students from the villages are enrolled in it. In Chanchoda block of Guna district, a centre was setup last year. The Soochna Seva team began introducing the activities that are carried out in selected panchayats. The hard work paid results and 32 students were enrolled within 20 days. Mr. Ramnarayan Ahirwar was strolling on the streets when he spotted some…
Kanti Bai gets a bank account with the help of Soochna Sevaखटकिया ग्राम निवासी श्रीमती कान्ति बाई केवट अपने पति हरिचरण और दो लड़कों के साथ रहती है I संपत्ति के नाम पर टूटा- फूटा मकान और एक बीघा जमीन है I बेमौसम बारिश और कुहासा जमीन से कोई आमदनी होने नहीं देता, हरिचरण को नशे की लत है और इसके चलते वह घर की जिम्मेदारी उठाने में असक्षम है I इस तरह परिवार के भरण-पोषण की जिम्मेदारी श्रीमती कान्ति बाई केवट पर है I वह दिहाड़ी मजदूरी कर इस जिम्मेदारी का निIर्वाह कर रही हैं I इस जिम्मेदारी में उनका बड़ा लड़का ड्राइवरी कर, यथा संभव मदद करता हैं I गरीबी रेखा से नीचे बसर करने वाली श्रीमती कान्ति बाई केवट के लिए आधार कार्ड बहुत जरूरी कागज़ है जिसका होना, उनके जीवन में बहुत मायने रखता है I
पप्पू साहू को मिली 50 प्रतिशत की छूटपप्पू साहू एवं कल्याण कोरी गुना जिले के देहरीकला गावं के रहने वाले है I यह दोनों एक मामूली किसान है, इनका पूरा परिवार जीवन यापन के लिए खेती पर निर्भर है I राजपाल केवट (सूचना सेवक) देहरीकला गाँव से ही है तथा सूचना सेवा मे जुड़ने के बाद से अपने गाँव की भलाई के लिए कार्य कर रहा है I एक दिन पप्पू साहू ने सूचना सेवक राज पाल केवट से संपर्क किया, और विद्युत विभाग मे बिल की राशि जमा करने से सम्बंधित किसी योजना के बारे मे पूछा I पप्पू साहू ने पिछले तीन साल से बिजली का बिल जमा नहीं किया था जिसके कारण बिल की राशि रू. 27775 हो गयी है इसकी वजह से वह काफी परेशान है I
A phone call by Schoona Seva team helps to resume stopped scholarship of Rajina.Rajina Bano is specially-abled since childhood and is the eldest among her two siblings. She was in class five when she first received scholarship for ‘Chatravriti Yojna’ under the disability quota. The school headmaster proposed Noor Mohammad Shah, father of Rajina, to open a bank account for her so that the scholarship money could be deposited in it. After the account was created in the bank, Rajina received a cheque of rupees 1500 from the school authorities. Next year when Rajina…
- Soochna Seva team helps Parmal Singh in getting his bank account.
‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna’ allows one to open an account with zero balance. So, Parmal Singh (45) sought help of Soochna Seva team to open his account in this scheme. He is from Kanti village in Lakshmanpura panchayat which is about 35 kilometers away from Raghogarh block. The residents of this village are from Bhil community. In January 2015, the team tried to process his request but they could not do so due to system failure. So he went to a Kiosk centre at Parsoliya to open the…
Meriyakhedi villagers receives Aadhar card after a long waitIn January 2015, Soochna Seva team of Chanchoura helped Pream Ahirwar of Meriyakhedi village to open up an account under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna. He also took Soochna Seva team’s assistance in availing Aadhaar card in March 2015. Soochna Seva team and Meriyakhedi residents were waiting for the Aadhaar cards. Usually Aadhaar cards reach an individual’s house through post within two months. But the wait continued for three months and all the applicants were desperate to receive their…
“The journey of thousand miles begins with a single step.”_ Lao Tzu“The journey of thousand miles begins with a single step.”_ Lao Tzu Meriyakhedi village is a small rural area that is situated in Chanchora block of Guna district. The locals were facing trouble in collecting water as they had only one hand-pump. Soochna Seva team was in a field visit when this issue came to their notice. One of the team members encouraged the villagers to report in the C.M. Helpline no 181 so that their complaint will get registered. But none was convinced by them and…
Padam Singh’s journey from a student to fellow at Soochna Seva KendraThe Soochna Seva team is making efforts to digitally empower the under-privileged children by providing computer training in their Soochna Seva Kendras. They have taught many children so far and have been continuing their work for about a year. Recently the team met Padam Singh, a young boy of 21-yr-old, in Meriyakhedi village of Chanchoura block. He expressed his desire to learn the basics of computer so that he can use his free time and learn something worthwhile that can help him in his…
PHE dept. repairs broken hand-pump in Chilka after Soochna Seva team’s interventionThe residents of Chilka village in Guna district were facing grave issues related to hand-pumps for several days. Every day villagers would gather around the hand-pump that was functioning properly and would stand for long hours to fill their vessels. To make matters worse, people quarreled with each other and this caused loads of commotion within the community. So, the locals complained in the PHE (Public Health Engineering) department on June 20, 2015 and waited for the officials to begin the…
लहरचा में हैंडपंप सुधरने से ग्राम में राहत:ग्राम में ५ हैंडपंप है, सभी हैंडपंप ठीक है पर एक हैंडपंप ग्राम के बीच में है जो की सभी लोगों के जल स्रोत का साधन है. वह अचानक ही खराब हो गया. लोग जल स्रोत के लिए अलग –अलग तरीके अपनाने लगे , लेकिन…
Handpump Village Devri, Block AronRecognizing the importance of water as basic necessity of life for rich & poor and its scarcity is equally fatal for all. We all are aware that women and at times children spend more than two hours a day for bringing water from rivers or springs and Hand pumps to their homes, not only in India but in several countries. In most of the villages Hand pump is the major source for water. This is a story of a village named ‘Devri’ situated in ‘Aron’ block of Guna, Madhya Pradesh, where…
Gram Sabha started after yearsGram Sabha was held at Meriyakhedi Panchayat as mandated by the constitution. The villagers were encouraged to attend the Gram Sabha in large numbers by Soochna Sevak from SSK Chanchouda and were conveyed the importance of collectivism. Soochna Sevak undertook door to door campaigning in order to get maximum attendance for the said meeting. A day before the Gram Sabha, Soochna Sevak team went to the Meriyakhedi Village for canvassing. They also engaged a senior citizen from the village Shri…
Beginnig matters not the sizeApril 14, 2015 is a gazetted holiday declared for birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Today a Gram Sabha meeting is to take place. So Soochna Sevaks (me and Rajaram) went to attend Bhidra Panchyat Gram Sabha. When we reached there, I noticed 6-7 pairs of old footwear. Among this foot wears, a pair of white sports shoe was kept bit away and inside the bhawan. 5 old cycles rested on the wall and 2 bikes outside Panchayat Bhavan. 10-15 community members were in the hall and all were men.…
Pravesh and CM HelplineIn Chanchouda block of Gehunkhed village lived a 15 year old boy Pravesh whose main interest was to learn the use of new Technology. Owing to his family’s financial constraints and lack of transport facility, was not able to register himself for the Basic computer course at SS Chanchouda. Often one would see him fiddling with his handset. Many a times, he used to call the Customer Care without any specific objective. His mischievous nature equipped him with kind of confidence which other…
Fire Accident at Bidra SahranaSoochna Sevak Rajaram Dhakkad was returning home from his work when Shri. Sundra Sahariya and his friends stoped Rajaram and narrated the fire accident due to which Shri. Sundra Sahariya, his wife Smt. Chanda Bai and their two daughters Chanda Bai aged 12 and Rama Bai aged 6 have lost his household. Not only the household items like cloths, grains, vessels etc which was lost due to fire but also the household itself was damaged to considerable extent. The cause of the fire is not known yet.…
Restoring the survival trailHer sons are physically disabled. She is partially blind. . To top it all, the Pension Schemes stopped. Soochna Seva restores hope to a family whose life almost came to a standstill. Daulata Bai Sahu is a 68-year-old widow from Dehrikilla village in Aron block, Guna district. Her husband passed away thirty years ago and after his death she was left with two sons, Amar Singh Sahoo (32) and Pran Singh Sahoo (28). They are auditory and visually impaired since childhood. In 2013, Daulata Devi…
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