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Stories from the Ground
This is a series of semi-fictionalized accounts of the lives of the women we had
interviewed and interacted with in the course of the study of non-beneficiaries of the
Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahayog Yojana (IGMSY) in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West
Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand. The IGMSY is a conditional cash transfer scheme thatis being piloted by the Central Government in selected districts of the country. The
scheme offers maternity benefits to all women, expect those women (or their
husbands) employed in the government and the organized sector. However the
scheme has certain eligibility criteria. One can be potential beneficiary only if one has
less than two children and is over 18 years of age. Thus a large number of very
vulnerable working class women are left out of its ambit.
These stories offer a glimpse of the everyday lives of a few women in different parts
of these four states.
Leela
It is a chilly December morning. Kaushalya walks through the lanes of Maroonda
village in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh to find Leelas house. Leela has been identified as
one of the respondents for the study on the IGMSY.
As Kaushalya nears the kaccha hut that is Leelas house she can hear the excited
screams of children playing in the yard. She enters the aangan to find four small
children running around, barefooted and scarcely dressed despite the cold. The hut is
small and stands miserably in the midst of the courtyard. A group of bent old women
are huddled on the verandah. A narrow dirty drain flows below the verandah. It is
choked with rubbish that causes a stream of dirty water to stagnate in there. A goat
tied on one corner of the platform chews thoughtfully at some grass. Kaushalya finds
Leela squatting in a corner of the aangan, her face hidden behind a long ghoonghat
washing a wailing infant. She turns to see Kaushalya and greets her with an
imperceptible nod of her head. As Kaushalya waits patiently for her at the verandah,
one of the old women asks her why she is there. Kaushalya explains about the IGMSY
and one of them is quick to say that her daughter-in-law is yet to receive the
promised compensation. She looks at Kaushalya expectantly for some help, who tells
the old woman that her daughter-in-law will receive money in due time but right now
she has come to meet Leela.
As they settle down onto a ragged charpoy in the aangan the group of old womendisperses. The baby in Leelas arms lets out a loud hungry wail and she is promptly
put to the breast. Leela and her husband Kashi belong to the Kushwaha caste. They
make ends meet working as wage labourers in the stone quarries nearby. On the days
that she does not get work Leela goes to the small field that they own to get fodder.
All of 28 years, Leela has already had seven pregnancies. Two of her children died
when they were still young. Now she has a six year old son who goes to school and
three daughters who are sent to the anganwadi centre in the village. The youngest is
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the gurgling five month old baby girl in her arms. Leela is shy and remains silent
when Kaushalya asks her why she or her husband have not undergone a nasbandi till
now. She then reluctantly responds, He didnt want it till now. Now I am going to get
it done.
The baby is fast asleep now and Leela strokes her face gently. My daughter was bornin the hospital. The people from the village had arranged for a taxi for me and my
husband to go when I was in labor. But gudiya needed an operation after she was
born. She could not urinate and the operation was needed to rectify that. Now she is
fine. Kaushalya asks, How much did you spend on treatments? We spent on
medicines. The rest was free. But every time one went there one had to spend at
least Rs.400.
Kaushalya looks at her lean body, wrinkled belly and gnarled fingers and her face
hidden by the ghoonghat. She cannot help but wonder whether this body that has
weathered so much gets to rest or have its fill, at least when it is carrying. Kaushalya
pauses and feels hesitant to ask questions about food. But she has to do it. It is partof her work. On being asked about what and how often she ate during her pregnancy
Leela promptly answers that she ate thrice a day. The morning tea is counted as a
meal. Lunch and dinner consist of rotis with vegetable or dal. On some days it was
only rotis, a piece of onion and some salt. Kaushalya does not want to press further.
She asks, Did you get rest during your pregnancy? Leela lifts her ghunghatwith two
fingers and looks at her and passes a half helpless smile. She then says with a little
indignation, How can the poor rest? You tell me. I stopped going for work after eight
months of my pregnancy because I had no choice. My body had given up. I just
couldnt work anymore. I used to feel ill and giddy. I had to visit the hospital four
times in course of my pregnancy. Once by taxi because I passed out at night andneeded to be rushed to the hospital that is in Mahoba. It is difficult to get there.
Kaushalya can imagine the woman looks practically emaciated.
Leela continues, My sister-in-law came to help me, but that was one of the rare
occasions when there was work in the village. So she would also go for mazdoori. I
stayed at home but did all the housework. From dawn to dusk I was at it. Who else
will do it? She continues, After the baby was born I rested for 10 days, on the 11 th I
was up and about doing all the housework except things like fetching water or lifting
heavy weights. I started going out to earn money within a month and a half of the
delivery. I would carry my little daughter to the site and leave her by the road and
keep an eye on her while I worked. The maaliknever complained when I got up to
breastfeed her. My son took care of her there. I thought your son goes to
school.says Kaushalya. Some days he does and on other days he doesnt. On the
days that he goes to school he comes back after lunch time to wherever it is that I am
working and takes care of the baby. Without him it would be hard. I feel very tired
and weak but I have to go for work. How will we eat otherwise? As it is we had to
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take a loan of Rs.4000 from Pratap Thakur at Rs.5 per saikada. That, we somehow
managed to pay back without much loss because I got back to work early.
She looks pensive and then looks down at the baby. Her rumination is interrupted by
a little girl who runs in gaily to complain about her brother who is pinching her. Leela
thwacks her back distractedly and the child disappointed at the lack of interest on hermothers part walks away pulling faces at her brother. As it is, it is so difficult to
make sure everyone sleeps on a full stomach and when I dont work it becomes even
harder. The children do not get enough to eat and so, just so that, they are not
hungry I continue to breastfeed them till as long as I can. She recounts how even the
worm infested panjeeri given as part of the supplementary nutrition programme at
the Anganwadi centre is at times cleaned and made into laddoos for consumption.
Kaushalya realizes then that Leelas earlier account of her eating habits is not entirely
true - her pride probably stops her from saying more about the meager meals that
they partake of given that they dont even have a ration card. Kashi has approached
thepradhan two-three times to get a ration card but he has not helped them out yet
despite his promises.
Leela listens carefully to Kaushalyas descriptions of the IGMSY scheme and to the
reasons for her ineligibility. Leela is puzzled and at the same time knows that she is
being penalized because she has more than two children. Why are women with more
children kept out of the scheme? We need more support, no? We have more
liabilities. If I had got that Rs.4000 then I wouldnt have had to take that loan! Leela
is clear about what she wants from the sarkar. She wants free treatment for her
children and free good quality medicines so that she can take care of her children
well. Her children could also go to school and be healthy. She looks down at her
hands and adds Women suffer from weakness and khoon ki kami. The sarkarshould
give them blood so that they can feel stronger. She looks at Kaushalya but her
thoughts are abruptly interrupted by the baby in her lap who stirs and is awake now.
Right now there are pressing concerns that demand urgent attention and cut short
her flight of imagination.