Since birth, Ravi has been bedridden with a nervous disorder. His parents, who took care of his needs, are no more and, for the past six years, his sister-in-law looks after him.
The 40-year old lives with his brother, a daily wage labourer, and his family in Erumappetti Panchayat in the Wadakkancherry Block in Thrissur, Kerala. Ravi’s family has been identified under a scheme for the poorest citizens of Kerala, called Ashraya, which started in 2003.
The Community Development Society Officer of Erumappetti Panchayat, Gita, says there are a total of 34 families under Ashraya, placed in 17 wards.
Each family is poor for a different reason and, hence, gets a different package to emerge out of destitution. This is the philosophy behind Ashraya, implemented by Kudumbashri and the local elected bodies jointly. Kudumbashri is a network of neighbourhood groups, each comprising 20 families and, thus, is a parallel governance structure in the state.
Medicines form the bulk of the expenses in Ravi’s case. So, the project for his family includes free medicines prescribed by the doctor at the health centre in the area, says Gita, who is also the local coordinator of the scheme. The family now lives in a new house built under the scheme. They get food grains for Rs 2 a kg, a privilege all members enjoy.
In the district’s Anthikad Block, Kizhakkepattu Shankaran Kutty’s family is a beneficiary of Ashraya, too. They are among the seven families identified in ward number five of the Panchayat, says Chandrika Ratnakaaran, a ward member.
Kutty who used to break stones to lay the foundation of houses in the Panchayat is known among the people. He has been unable to work ever since he developed a heart ailment. His wife now works as a domestic help to support their three school-going children, says Ratnakaaran.
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We are providing him a house, says the ward member. But, according to the villagers, the man’s situation is desperate and the promised house has not materialised yet. The foundation has been laid and the family now lives under a roof made of palm leaf fronds.
Ashraya, which was confined to Panchayats and a few urban wards only, is being rolled out in all corporation wards by the new government.Whether the strategy to reach the last of the needy would actually be fulfilled is a big question.
Anthikad residents are cynical. These are only promises on paper, say the youngsters of the village. Or, Kutty would have been better off by now, says Manikantan, a resident of the ward.
According to Panchayat officials in Erumappetti and Anthikad, the four-year-old project for select families has now been completed. The area and community development committees will soon begin identifying newer cases of destitution through the neighbourhood groups of Kudumbashri and submit project proposals to the district mission.
Some old beneficiaries may continue to be in the scheme, while new members would benefit in the second term of the scheme, adds Gita.
Kudumbashri takes pride in these micro-development plans, which it executes in partnership with elected bodies, says state programme officer of Ashraya, Jaikumar. “We get to focus on each needy family rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. We spend an average of Rs 80,000 on every family, and so far, 75,000 families have been covered across the state,” he says. Problems arise when there is a lack of supervision at the local level, but neighbourhood groups are supposed to report anomalies to the district mission, he adds.
The Kerala government’s allocation for Kudumbashri was Rs 100 crore last year, of which Rs 20 crore was spent on Ashraya. This is only 40 per cent of the money spent on the families in three years. The rest comes from Panchayats and corporations and various departments such as health and education, says Jaikumar. Each Panchayat or corporation does a project worth Rs 40 lakh for a period of three years, which is revisited at the end and changes made in the fourth year to ensure the causes behind a family’s poverty are addressed, he says. With neighbourhood groups taking up the role of planners, development can’t go more bottom-up.