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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.