It was another day in the field collecting data for Health Inc project. The team reached village near Nelamangala. After meeting staff in Gram Panchayat (GP) we were asked to talk to Anganawadi teacher and take her help to identify the houses for collecting data. But the teacher was not happy to accompany us. She said “why should I help you? it is GPs responsibility”, however we managed to convince her to accompany us.
Source*
Interesting discussion started after that, we gave her the list of household and explained where we got that list. She said…oh then I have that list with me and I also have many cards in the cup board and she took out box full of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) smart cards. When asked why cards were not distributed..she said…”why should I give, it is GPs responsibility”! It was clear there was no coordination between Anganawadi teacher and GP. But it was poor who were deprived of benefit. I asked teacher, do you know what this card is. She said yes it is health card!! Do you know anything more than that? No…that is the only information given on the day of camp!!
Then team got divided and along with Mr Omkar I followed teacher to one house. Teacher first entered the house and said there are some people who want to collect information and she started walking out. I heard female voice from inside asking what information? Teacher screamed from outside.. “about that PAN card you collected from me last week”!! I said …what!! PAN card…no no we are not here to collect information about PAN card…teacher smiled and said “madam these people don’t understand” and she started walking away….I questioned myself…who does not understand? Does the teacher understand? How does she know they do not understand? Anyways it was time for me to get inside the house and sit with Omkar.
When Omkar showed RSBY smart card asked do you know about this card….informant said yes it is AADHAAR card (AADHAAR is Unique Identification number issued by Govt India) and when asked who told you that…Anganawadi teacher came and called us to take photo for AADHAAR card and she gave this card later. Informant showed some paper which was given on the day photo was taken; those papers were related to AADHAAR.
I thought on the day of camp did they take photos for AADHAAR and RSBY? Why was no information given to people about RSBY? Why did Anganwadi teacher call people for AADHAAR card? Did not get answer but thought may be people responsible to issue cards felt poor people will not understand or they did not want to give information? Not sure but I moved to next house thinking does different types of card means the same for poor…NO BENEFITS & NO INFORMATION?
*http://www.rsby.gov.in/
