layman's space

Lakhman Jagat of Kuliadongri village in Nuapada district died early in the morning of 25, October. The village belongs to Karanbaheli Panchayat under Sinapali block of the district. He was 25 years of age. “My son died of starvation” says the 80 year old mother of Lakhman, who was totally dependent upon Lakhman for her livelihood. Lakhman has three brothers, who are living under the same roof but are separate families. The BPL card owned by their parents is the only precious thing they possess. They get 30 kgs of rice and distribute that among themselves. The BPL card shows that, they have not received PDS rice for last 5 months. Lakhman got ill last month and was unable to work. As he stopped working, it became difficult for him to feed the family consisting of his wife, small child and his mother. So his wife went to Raipur with the little child to search for livelihood. Lakhman was regularly going to Raipur to pull rickshaw to maintain the family till last year. He proposed Bel...

The children registered in the Anganwadi Centre of Belpada village of Lanji Panchayat under Khariar block of Nuapada district have not received their SNP for last one month. The Anganwadi centres are even not supplying the morning snacks. Officials in the CDPO office say, “the stock registers shows that, food materials were available in this centre upto last week.” The helper says, “the stock exhausted last month and in spite of our request the office is not supplying materials.” In Matritarei village of the same Panchayat, the Anganwadi worker has managed the SNP through borrowing. “We have to borrow like this for at least two months in a year”, most of the AWWs in the block say. Most centres have stopped supplying morning snacks due to non-payment of dues of the SHGs. The SHGs are managing this out of their own fund but the expenses have not been reimbursed regularly in many cases. The Self Help Group of Belgaon and Matritarei have stopped supplying snacks for last three to four ...