Balm For The Sick
Four years ago, Gavri Devi’s husband died due to electrocution. Her in-laws distanced themselves just after the demise of their son and they did not even come forward to know about the well-being of Gavri Devi. Her parents provided money to run the household but the amount was too little to fulfill all her needs. Gavri Devi somehow managed to send her children to government schools and through the help of school authorities she applied for ‘Palanhar Pension Yojna’. This scheme aims to provide financial aid for those families whose children are below 18 years and do not have a bread-winner in the family.
She has four children and the eldest daughter is eight years old. So, her three children were enrolled in the ‘Palanhar Pension Yojna’ and they received 1000 rupees each after the pension plan was passed. For two years Gavri Devi’s life moved forward in a good way as the money that she received from the yojna helped her to buy books and stationaries for her children. She also managed to save some amount for running the household.
In 2015, she did not get money for the month of January and the halt continued for the following months. On one side the pension stopped while on the other side, her parents began sending half of the amount that they used to send earlier. Her misfortune increased day by day and there were days when her children slept without eating food.
Her miseries came to an end after she participated in the camp organised by Soochna Seva team in Rani village, of Barmer district, on April 23, 2015. While interacting with the team she informed them about her husband’s demise, family’s financial crunch, lack of important documents and the discontinuation of pension.
Soochna Seva team assured her to provide help from their end and also advised her to apply for “vidhwa pension scheme” so that she will receive 2000 rupees per month. Though she did not have BPL card, but there are provisions for widows in Rajasthan Government to avail the benefits of this scheme. Also, the team assisted her to fill the online form of BPL card so that she could apply for Indira Awas Yojna after obtaining the card.
Next month the team visited Block Development Office and requested the officials to look into the matter of Gavri Devi. Finally, on June 14, 2015 success kissed the foot of Soochna Seva team as their efforts bore wonderful results. Gavri Devi received 18,000 rupees in her bank account and after two days 2000 rupees were also deposited in her account through ‘vidhwa pension’ scheme. This action motived her as well as other locals to enroll in other useful schemes that are meant to benefit people. Gavri Devi thanked the team for pulling her family out of the swamp of poverty and saved the lives of her children.
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