WE SALUTE TO SHEHLA MASOOD .INDIA IS GOING TO WORDS EMPOWER DEMOCRACY WHERE VOTER WILL DEMAND LIFE DEVELOPMENT NOT CAST CLASS RELIGION . AT THIS TIME ISSUE IN INDIA IS TRANSPARENCY LIKE MINDED LEADER/COMMUNITY IS NOT ONE PLATFORM AND CORRUPT PERSON IS MORE UNITE EVERY TIME AND SIT AMONG SUCH TYPE OF LEADER .IF YOU WANTS EMPOWER DEMOCRACY AND GOOD LIFE OF CHILDREN SO MAKE GOOD TEAM AND FIGHT WITH TEAM AND SUPPORT TO TEAM. LIKE MINDED COMMUNITY SUPPORT WORK AND MISSION . IN BARGHAR DIST CHITRAKOOT BLOK MOU BUNDELKHAND YOUTH PEACE ARMY IS DOING FIGHTS AGAINST CORRUPTION ON GOVERNMENT POVERTY REDUCE SCHEMES AS BPL CARD PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND NATURAL PROPERTY.
THE LAL CARD MOVEMENT OF THE SHANTI SENA OF BARGARH
READ ABOUT OUR MOVEMENT AND SUPPORT IT!
BELOW POVERTY LINE FAMILIES HOPING TO GET THE LAL CARD
The main problem that the SHANTI SENA wants to tackle is the lack of transparency of sums sent down from the national government to local communities. Government initiatives to support the destitute in isolated communities seem to be constantly undermined, and even entirely erased, by corruption at all five levels of governance: the local level, the ‘block’ (region) level, the district, the state and the national government level. Any amount of funds sent down this governance ladder gets gradually reduced as each level pockets a small or large part of it. In the end, the initial targets for these support initiatives receive nothing.
This has been the case for the“Lal Card” . This card is part of an anti-poverty initiative from the government. It is given to the owners of a Below The Poverty Line Card (BPL Card), those families who have been identified by the government as living in poverty. The Lal card allows families to buy wheat, rice, sugar and pulses at a reduced price. However the distribution of these Lal Cards has been put under the charge of local governments.
In the Bargarh area, this has invited corruption and dishonesty in deciding which families may receive the card. As there is a limited number of cards issued in a certain area, it is up to the local governments to distribute them in the best way.
Yet the local government has preferred to allocate these cards to those who offered the most money for it. The poor have never received these cards and the rich now benefit from having them (illegally). The youth group of the SSA has decided to fight this problem by raising awareness in a dozen villages in the area. It will organize a cycling-protest which will go from village to village and, in each village, address the community asking people to come forward to be witnesses of the local corruption and present their demands to the government. Documents and records will be taken from each village and carried by the cyclers to the district government in Chitrakoot.
This is a major symbolic move and a difficult one too: the Chitrakoot is some 60 kilometers away. Hopefully the protesters will be allowed to meet government officials and talk with them to participate in finding a solution to the problem.
Tuesday 23rd August
Today the youth group met up in the SSA offices to prepare their first afternoon of activist cycling – they aimed to raise awareness about their campaign in one village, and three villages every day for the next ten days. In all they will get thirty villages involved in their project – which means over a thousand people.
The first day was very successful.
We were welcome by the village after having crossed through Bargarh with banners and slogans. The villagers gave us necklaces of flowers and sang songs to welcome us. The leader of the Youth Group – which has taken on the new name of “Shanti Sena” (Peace Army) made his speech of presentation, explaining the issue of the Lal Card and how government initiatives to reduce poverty rarely attained the people they were aimed at: those identified as Below the Poverty Line.
The Peace Army asked the village how many families had received the Lal Card and Job Card, and if they hadn’t, what were the reasons the authorities had provided. The group emphasized that the application process was open to all the BPLs, and that it was their right to demand government help. The women of the village were particularly responsive. They engaged in the debate well, expressing their points of view one at a time and nodding eagerly at the opinions of the young men.
They put forward the problems that they had in providing for the well-being of their families and the lack of government help. They said that they had no food security for their children. They also explained that out of the number of families that need a Lal Card, only some have received it because the government is not distributing the cards to the right people. The poorest are not benefiting from the scheme.
They also seemed to find the bureaucracy of government schemes to be an obstacle for their access to support. The Youth Group helped for this particular issue: they promised to return to the village that same evening to take record of all the names of families hoping to apply for a Lal Card. They also wanted to write the names of families with a Lal Card but who could not benefit from the subsidized food of government shops.
The two main problems of the area which are causing malnutrition for children and problems for the village women are bad governance and bureaucracy.
The women of the village also agreed that they would organise a public hearing, joining together many villages, so that they could draw media attention to the problem. This will take place on the 7th September in Bargarh, and they hope to attract women from all over the area. Their enthusiasm was encouraging and positive. We met in person the leader of the “block” which consists of one hundred villages. She appeared to be a strong-minded woman with the willpower to change things for her community.
In the end, the Peace Army carried out their first day of campaigning very well. They were honest and open and have a talent for speaking in public.
Wednesday 24th August
The Peace Army continued its aim to raise awareness in as many villages as possible and visited three villages today. In all of them they were welcome with enthusiasm from the villagers. The first village was Pateri, where aroud 200 people gathered around the Shanti Sena and listened to their campaign. The women of this village were particularly active: they wanted to join the women’s public hearing that will take place in Bargarh and also wanted to write down their requests and address them to local government.
They were ready to take the initiative alone: “ham teyar hain!” they told us.
The village then elected 5 women to represent the village and to make up a list of the families who had not received a Lal Card even though they were BPLs. Another list would also be made of all the families with a Lal Card but not managing to receive cheaper food. This is because of the short supply in government shops – a major obstacle to this government scheme to help food security.
The Shanti Sena also discovered a major problem for this particular village. A factory was planned to be built in the area and the inhabitants’ lands are to be seized. They have received money in compensation, but the villagers told us that this would not allow them to survive. The money was not sufficient, and without their land they could not have a sustainable income. On top of this, no one can buy someone’s right to clean air and a peaceful environment. The factory would ruin the local agriculture and steal the jobs of the villagers.
The villagers asked the Peace Army to put forward this problem as well as that of the Lal and BPL cards. The issues concerning poverty and food security are therefore numerous in the area and need urgently to be addressed by the local, regional and state governments. The people wre desperate: an old woman came forward in tears to explain her critical situation to the young men. They promised to try the best they can to help her and all the other families in need of food security.
Our next village was Satynarayan Nagar, and the people welcomed us in much the same way – but the men participated more in the debate. They made up a list of names of families wanting to apply for the Lal Card or the Job Card. They were very enthusiastic and said they would send representatives to the public hearing.
They wanted their voices to be united with the other villages and heard by the government.
THE LAL CARD MOVEMENT OF THE SHANTI SENA OF BARGARH
READ ABOUT OUR MOVEMENT AND SUPPORT IT!
BELOW POVERTY LINE FAMILIES HOPING TO GET THE LAL CARD
The main problem that the SHANTI SENA wants to tackle is the lack of transparency of sums sent down from the national government to local communities. Government initiatives to support the destitute in isolated communities seem to be constantly undermined, and even entirely erased, by corruption at all five levels of governance: the local level, the ‘block’ (region) level, the district, the state and the national government level. Any amount of funds sent down this governance ladder gets gradually reduced as each level pockets a small or large part of it. In the end, the initial targets for these support initiatives receive nothing.
This has been the case for the“Lal Card” . This card is part of an anti-poverty initiative from the government. It is given to the owners of a Below The Poverty Line Card (BPL Card), those families who have been identified by the government as living in poverty. The Lal card allows families to buy wheat, rice, sugar and pulses at a reduced price. However the distribution of these Lal Cards has been put under the charge of local governments.
In the Bargarh area, this has invited corruption and dishonesty in deciding which families may receive the card. As there is a limited number of cards issued in a certain area, it is up to the local governments to distribute them in the best way.
Yet the local government has preferred to allocate these cards to those who offered the most money for it. The poor have never received these cards and the rich now benefit from having them (illegally). The youth group of the SSA has decided to fight this problem by raising awareness in a dozen villages in the area. It will organize a cycling-protest which will go from village to village and, in each village, address the community asking people to come forward to be witnesses of the local corruption and present their demands to the government. Documents and records will be taken from each village and carried by the cyclers to the district government in Chitrakoot.
This is a major symbolic move and a difficult one too: the Chitrakoot is some 60 kilometers away. Hopefully the protesters will be allowed to meet government officials and talk with them to participate in finding a solution to the problem.
Tuesday 23rd August
Today the youth group met up in the SSA offices to prepare their first afternoon of activist cycling – they aimed to raise awareness about their campaign in one village, and three villages every day for the next ten days. In all they will get thirty villages involved in their project – which means over a thousand people.
The first day was very successful.
We were welcome by the village after having crossed through Bargarh with banners and slogans. The villagers gave us necklaces of flowers and sang songs to welcome us. The leader of the Youth Group – which has taken on the new name of “Shanti Sena” (Peace Army) made his speech of presentation, explaining the issue of the Lal Card and how government initiatives to reduce poverty rarely attained the people they were aimed at: those identified as Below the Poverty Line.
The Peace Army asked the village how many families had received the Lal Card and Job Card, and if they hadn’t, what were the reasons the authorities had provided. The group emphasized that the application process was open to all the BPLs, and that it was their right to demand government help. The women of the village were particularly responsive. They engaged in the debate well, expressing their points of view one at a time and nodding eagerly at the opinions of the young men.
They put forward the problems that they had in providing for the well-being of their families and the lack of government help. They said that they had no food security for their children. They also explained that out of the number of families that need a Lal Card, only some have received it because the government is not distributing the cards to the right people. The poorest are not benefiting from the scheme.
They also seemed to find the bureaucracy of government schemes to be an obstacle for their access to support. The Youth Group helped for this particular issue: they promised to return to the village that same evening to take record of all the names of families hoping to apply for a Lal Card. They also wanted to write the names of families with a Lal Card but who could not benefit from the subsidized food of government shops.
The two main problems of the area which are causing malnutrition for children and problems for the village women are bad governance and bureaucracy.
The women of the village also agreed that they would organise a public hearing, joining together many villages, so that they could draw media attention to the problem. This will take place on the 7th September in Bargarh, and they hope to attract women from all over the area. Their enthusiasm was encouraging and positive. We met in person the leader of the “block” which consists of one hundred villages. She appeared to be a strong-minded woman with the willpower to change things for her community.
In the end, the Peace Army carried out their first day of campaigning very well. They were honest and open and have a talent for speaking in public.
Wednesday 24th August
The Peace Army continued its aim to raise awareness in as many villages as possible and visited three villages today. In all of them they were welcome with enthusiasm from the villagers. The first village was Pateri, where aroud 200 people gathered around the Shanti Sena and listened to their campaign. The women of this village were particularly active: they wanted to join the women’s public hearing that will take place in Bargarh and also wanted to write down their requests and address them to local government.
They were ready to take the initiative alone: “ham teyar hain!” they told us.
The village then elected 5 women to represent the village and to make up a list of the families who had not received a Lal Card even though they were BPLs. Another list would also be made of all the families with a Lal Card but not managing to receive cheaper food. This is because of the short supply in government shops – a major obstacle to this government scheme to help food security.
The Shanti Sena also discovered a major problem for this particular village. A factory was planned to be built in the area and the inhabitants’ lands are to be seized. They have received money in compensation, but the villagers told us that this would not allow them to survive. The money was not sufficient, and without their land they could not have a sustainable income. On top of this, no one can buy someone’s right to clean air and a peaceful environment. The factory would ruin the local agriculture and steal the jobs of the villagers.
The villagers asked the Peace Army to put forward this problem as well as that of the Lal and BPL cards. The issues concerning poverty and food security are therefore numerous in the area and need urgently to be addressed by the local, regional and state governments. The people wre desperate: an old woman came forward in tears to explain her critical situation to the young men. They promised to try the best they can to help her and all the other families in need of food security.
Our next village was Satynarayan Nagar, and the people welcomed us in much the same way – but the men participated more in the debate. They made up a list of names of families wanting to apply for the Lal Card or the Job Card. They were very enthusiastic and said they would send representatives to the public hearing.
They wanted their voices to be united with the other villages and heard by the government.
Another summer of crop failure, water crisis, starvation deaths and suicides looms over Bundelkhand, a parched region espoused by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
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