A remote village about 15 km from Pichhor development block in Shivpuri district is dominated by Lodhi and other caste people. The village also houses nearly 15 families belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. A tribal woman Parvati is struggling with her life in this village.
Parvati had in her family her husband Bhagwandas, a son and two daughters. About three years from the time of writing this case study her husband developed an boil in one of his feet. This forced Parvati to take care of her children and her husband. She joined the woman organisation and started talking about her rights.
When she put her situation before the sarpanch and Gram Sabha, the panchayat sanctioned her a home, which she got constructed somehow with the support of her ailing husband and children. But instead of Rs 25,000 which she was entitled, she only got Rs 19,000.
Now Parvati was faced with a bigger problem. Her husband developed abscess. She had Antyoday treatment card, about which Parvati had heard that treatment worth Rs 20,000 was available free to the card holders. But government doctors did not provide proper treatment, nor did they refer him to the district hospital. One day Bhagwandas died. After grief was over she once readied herself to fight. The administration sanctioned her Rs 10,000 as assistance under the National Family Assistant scheme, but a large part of the money was gobbled by the brokers.
Now Parvati is somehow raising her children with the help of Antyoday card and manual labour. Her son is studying in Class V and she has arranged a tuition costing Rs 100 per month for him. Her other children are just five and four year old. She has plans for them, though she is working as a labourer.