Pooja Urain (38) who resides in a small village of Bedo block in Ranchi district has been living a miserable life for a long time. She was overjoyed when she received a BPL (Below Poverty Line) card after a long wait, because this will serve as a ticket to her dreams to own a house through Indira Awas Yojna. She wanted to break free from the dilapidated condition of leaking roof, make-shift walls and tiny rooms. The dream of a ‘pucca’ house gave her wings to believe that she too can have a good house and therefore Pooja worked extremely hard to put her name forward for the yojna.

For two years Pooja and her husband waited patiently for their chance and then one day Pooja reached the Block Development Officer’s office. It was expected that this time her name will be announced but to her dismay they did not call out her name. Confused, sad and disappointed, Pooja was returning home with a heavy heart when she came across a gathering of people where Soochna Seva team was explaining people about the schemes and plans that government has issued for the welfare of the citizens.

She went up to them and elaborated her plight, also showed them her BPL card. Our Soochna Seva team consoled her and explained that such schemes do take time for further processing. But, the team was not satisfied by own answer so to dive deep into the matter they went to Block Development Office (BDO) with Pooja, the officials notified them that in the BPL card Pooja’s brother in law’s name is mentioned therefore it is rejected at district level. She should have a new BPL card in the name of her husband.

SS team counseled Pooja and her husband about the basic details of BPL card and its importance. They waited for next three months and finally applied for new BPL card which is under process.

Once Pooja receives the new BPL card, her dreams to own a house will be fulfilled.

Soochna Seva team has been working extremely hard towards the betterment of society by making people aware of the rights and opportunities provided by government for making one’s life sustainable. One such effort came into light from Kuship village of Ramdev Nagar block in Barmer district. Here Soochna Seva team helped Gabri Devi to obtain Pension Plan Order (PPO) card for Old Age Pension Scheme that she has applied three months ago.

Gabri Devi Meghwal is a 50-yr-old woman and she married Mangaram Meghwal(57) around thirty years ago and they have been working as daily wage labourers since then. Poverty coupled with hunger and old age has made their life miserable. They do not have aadhar card and BPL card and due to this they live without electricity connection. Gabri Devi cannot see properly at night and hence she finds it difficult to carry out her daily chores after evening. Also, her declining age has weakened her bones and she could not do much of physical labour. Even Managaram is old and he cannot look after his wife alone. The couple manages to earn rupees 1200 through NREGA and at times earn around 600 to 700 rupees by working in someone’s field or by doing some other odd jobs. They do not have any caretaker as they are childless.

To help her out Soochna Seva team met her during a camp in Ramnagar block of Barmer district. Along with other villagers the team collected documents from her and pushed the application further for approval. Since, Gavri Devi is 55-yrs-old and under the provisions of Rajasthan government she is eligible for Old Age Pension plan. So, on July 7, 2015 the Soochna Seva team distributed Pension Plan Order (PPO) to 22 people in Barmer district. Receiving a PPO card is not at all an easy process, as it involves 6 levels of permissions from government offices right from the panchayat to the district level. Among the people who received their PPO cards was Gavri Devi Meghwal. The amount that she will be receiving will get deposited in her bank account in State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna by the help of Soochna Seva team.

The open meeting/discussion in Jardhar Gaon, Chamba Block was attended by the villagers and the majorities were women. Primary focus of the meeting was to deliver information about the objectives of Soochna Seva and the structure of work done by the team. Also, the team focused on describing about the schemes and policies that will benefit the villagers especially the woman. During the conversation the team interacted with Babli Devi. She explained her situation to the team. She wanted to avail the benefits of ‘Nanda Devi Kanya Dhan Yojana’. According to this yojna, any family whose girl child is born after 01.01.2009 and are living below poverty line is given an amount of Rs.5000/- in the form of fixed deposit and is payable to the maximum two girl child of a family.

Though she has tried many a times but all her efforts went in vain. When Soochna Seva team examined her documents they pointed out that her name is not spelled correctly in the ration card. This news disheartened Babli Devi as she did not know the process of changing the name. To ease her problem Soochna Seva team assured her that they will provide their assistance whenever she requires it. The team then visited Block Development Office along with her and requested to correct the name that was printed wrongly. After that Badli Devi took the document to the principle of Rajkiya Inter College to get the document attested and finally she submitted it in the Department of Child Development.

Bags of cement, a heap of sand, stacks of bricks and two plastered walls describes the status of half built home of Suleman Nesha. She received thirty seven thousand rupees as first instalment under Indira Awaas Yojna and began giving shape to her dreams of a ‘pucca’ house. The construction work could have continued smoothly if she would have received second instalment also. She used all the money from her account for the construction work, unfortunately after three months the work stopped as she did not receive the second instalment on time and her wait began.

Suleman Nesha is 48-yr-old woman and lives in Jharjhari village of Inerwa block in West Champaran. She has been planning to make a house of mortar and shell so that her family can escape the troubles experienced while staying in a thatched house. She has a big family consisting of eight children and a husband. Four daughters are married and her elder son married a year earlier. The family however managed to accommodate themselves within a room but they always felt the need to have a good house. And through Indira Awas Yojna their wishes were about to get fulfilled, but the gridlock shattered their happiness.

Jahir Miyan (54), husband of Suleman Nesha asked some of his friends within the village to find out solutions of his problem but no one could give him answers. One fine day he discovered about Soochna Seva and the good work done by the team. He waited desperately for the camp that was scheduled to take place in Jharjhari villag the next day with the hope of receiving some help from them.

On June 25, 2015, Soochna Seva team organised a camp for filling the form for ‘Jeevan Jyoti Beema’ for interested people. The couple spoke with the team and discussed their problem and requested them to sort it out. The team examined the documents and found that the papers were alright; hence Suleman Nesha is eligible for next instalment also. Therefore the team went to Block Development Office (BDO) to know about the delay.

The officer at BDO went through the documents and notified them that there has been shortage of funds so the money did not go in Suleman Nehsa’s account. Three days later, the second instalment also came and the construction work resumed. Soochna Seva team received gratitude not only from the family but also from the locals for the selfless efforts put in by them.

In 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 boys of his age lacked. We all know it is not easy to take back money from mobile service providers once it is wrongly deducted from your account, but for Pravesh it was a child’s play as simple as hitting the ball off the bat for a six.

The Block Coordinator of Chanchoura block, Naval Kushwaha is also a resident of Gehunkhedi. The nature of his job required him to work closely with the Block Manager. One day Pravesh overheard the discussion about the CM Helpline between Naval Kushwaha and the Block Manager and noted down the telephone number. Due to lack of proper drainage system, the dirty water which drained out from the houses of 80 families living there got accumulated on the kachha road running through the village which made the road look like a drain. This posed dangers of spreading disease and making road very slippery which had caused injuries to people mostly children who slipped while walking or crossing the road.

According to PM Grameen Sadak Yojna there is a provision for a road to be made on this patch but some people created trouble so that the work could not be undertaken due to their own vested interests. Some villagers were intentionally obstructive and refused to cooperate for the construction of this road as portions of their house would have been demolished for the construction. Pravesh observed that many of his friends were falling ill due to accumulated water or were injured by slipping while walking or crossing the road, so he decided to take help from CM Helpline. He lodged a complaint with the Helpline and in response he was given assurance that his suggestion will be seriously taken care of after the Panchayat Elections.

Soochna 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. The neighbours helped to contain the fire but all was lost. Rajaram Dhakkad who is also a member of Village Protection Committee and thus is aware of the procedures, listened patiently to the narration.

After listening Rajaram Dhakkad advised two things to Shri. Sundra Sahariya, first to report the matter to the Umari Police and secondly report the incident to Bidra Village Secretary. Shri. Sundra Sahariya did as he was advised. As a result on February 20, 2015 the Patwari and a Constable from the Police station came and inspected the place and wrote down the extent of damage. Shri. Sundra Sahariya was summoned by Patwari along with photocopy of Bank Passbook on February 24, 2015. Shri Sundra Sahariya submitted the required documents on February 29, 2015.

Shri Sundra Sahariya’s case has reached the Tahsil office. SSK Guna team is following up the case.

Raju is a resident of New Tehri and works in a small barber shop to feed his family. He visited the Aadhar Card camp which was organised in Palika Sabhagar of New Tehri Nagar. He wanted to avail the benefits of ‘Direct Benefits Transfer Schemes’ and for that he had all the necessary documents except Aadhar Card. He was supposed to fill the Form no. 4 but due to unavailability of Aadhar card he could not do so.

Since, Aadhar card became his prime need, Soochna Seva team questioned him about the absence. Initially he hesitated but eventually disclosed his saddening story. Five years ago he met with a terrible accident and lost the middle finger of his right hand. He assumed that he will not be able to pass the biometric equipment process because the equipment records the fingerprints as a proof for the preparation of the Aadhar card. So, Soochna Seva team clarified his doubts and helped him to complete the registration process in the camp.

This case moved the team a lot and hence they decided to organise more such camps in several other locations so that they can reach out to similar people like Raju and try to facilitate them in the applying for Aadhar card.

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.

The panchayat of Bijilia village in Barmer district, informed soochna seva team that Bhawar Kawar, who is a 72-year-old widow, is not the resident of Bijilia and that is the reason for discontinuation of the pension that she was receiving. This was a disturbing piece of information for Soochna Seva team as well as for Bhanwar because panchayat has also mentioned that for last two years she did not approach them to inquire about the delay in pension, so they assumed that, she might have moved to another village.

Bhanwar kawar

Well, Soochna Seva team knew pretty well that the facts that they got from panchayat were partially true because Bhawar has been living with her brother’s family in Bijilia since many years. As, she is childless and her husband passed away about 22 years ago, she had no one to comfort her and help her financially. So, first she moved to her brother’s house and then in 1998, she applied for Vridha Pension Scheme. It has been two years since the money has stopped flowing into her account and there was no one to help her out in resolving this matter.

Fortunately, on February 17, 2015; Omprakash and Jugtaram our Soochna Sevaks visited Bhanwar’s house during their door-to-door visit in Bijilia village and came to know about her grave situation.

Soochna Sevaks returned to Soochna Seva Kendra and assisted Bhanwar Kanwar to fill an online form so that her name gets registered in the panchayat. After that, it was signed by sarpanch and gram sevak and has also passed the table of revenue officer of panchayat. Due to lack of funds, the officer expressed his inability to release the fund, but he assured Bhawar Kanwar that she will receive the pension very soon.