Creating Opportunity, Earning Dignity
(A success story of a old for giving opportunity to live with dignity and self confidence)
“This is the fury voice of old women of Badani Bhoi, a 70 years old person having full of sadness in her drag face. That opportunistic system includes forms of oppression, although the system has gone with the birth of independence and successive developments, the oppressed find it difficult even at this juncture to be in the mainstream of development. With the intrusion of every new high rising buildings, rich man, qualified ,well earners and new style of living status in this part of the sub-urban Bhubaneswar city, the black hole of the development reveals its features lead chance of exclusion and violation looms large. For the people in the age group of Badani bhoi things become harder to make informed choices.
She is an old widow lady having six children those who have already got marry. Two of her sons are separated and at present Badani is staying with her younger son they have only 0.5 acres of cultivated land owned by their forefathers. Both of her sons are cultivating the land and what they earned are the primary income of the family to maintain twenty numbers of adult and children. Due to their poor income her son heisted to provide food to this old lady even many times her sister in law made quarreled and forced her out from the house, even they denied giving food and cloth. At the time of her illness she never gets help from others.
Once she came in contact with some workers of PECUC organization those who are working for the elders. Badani had met with a worker and expressed her situation. Then with the advice she was joined in a ESHG name as Maa Garudei Self help group in the village. All the members are old aged poor belongs to BPL family. There are 20 members out of which 15 are women and others are male. All the members are attending meeting regularly and giving their contribution. They have opened a Bank account by depositing the group money. Due to the dynamics of the group it was linked with Bank and with the loan amount they had parched a thresher and giving it rent to the farmers of the village. Now the machine is creating Local Income Generation Opportunities for 6 months in a calendar year and earning Rs. 100/- per day for the group. The present monthly group saving raised up to Rs. 5000/- out of which Rs. 2000/- is taken in loan by 3 members at a nominal interest of 3% p.a. Badani has taken Rs. 1000/- loan from the group and invested in procurement of fertilizer (inputs) for the Khariff paddy cultivation. Her loan from the group helps her younger son in agricultural production activities. After six month Badani has repaid her loan amount. In this way the group money goes on rotating and creating social capital for the group in the community.
Similarly, access to agricultural inputs and use of inputs is enhanced for the group by provision of 240 kg. Paddy seeds to 8 needy members of the group. All the 8 members in cluding Badani are going to return seeds to the group after the harvest to strengthen the capacity of the group in “Seed Storage and Maintenance” for successive crops in future.
By involving with group Badani has gained lot of knowledge and scope for better income opportunity to her family it also increase her confidence and hope that she is not alone other group members are with her they will help her when and as she required . in other sense by supporting her son in the income the other members of the family giving her love &respect .
Prior to the formation of the group, Badani use to sit at home. As she becomes the member of the group, her younger son pays Rs. 10/- per month to Badani towards the monthly collection of the group. Introduction of the machine promises additional group income and members like Badani wish to rotate the money to earn more saving in future. The saving so generated would help them better access to health facility and unforeseen expenditures.