On cattle protection and protein deprivation

While preparing for a larger survey this February in Sitapur, we were recording background information as well as the weights of all members of 20 families in Madhubana, an active sangathan village. Prakash, a senior Saathi, was in charge of this task. He came by later looking a bit upset – 'कोई मेहरूआ ४० किलो से ऊपर हो तो बताना' translating roughly to 'Do let me know if you find any woman weighing more than 40 kg?'.

Dreams and pragmatism in rural UP

I've been wondering what I can say about the Uttar Pradesh elections and YA's ascension. Given the amount of time I have spent there recently (almost 2 months during the election and results period), I should have some insights to share, right? Maybe I should just recount my experiences on one day in late February...

A colleague and I were at the bus stand, bound for a village about 40 km from Sitapur city. With the SP-introduced Lohia buses, services to villages had improved but there were very few buses available during the election period. So we were relieved to see a rickety bus headed to Mishrikh, an intermediate point. The bus was almost full when we were asked to step out so that it could be cleaned. Grumbling, we did. A man standing nearby started off - “When Modi comes to power in UP, such things won't happen. He will kick all the workers into shape – they will not be able to get away with this indiscipline.” The people around him nodded their heads or made sounds of agreement.

The Universal Health Coverage Numbers Game

Some years ago, during a sojourn in Sitapur, we began discussing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), the National Health Insurance Scheme which provides 'cashless care' for hospitalisation at 'empanelled' private hospitals. The RSBY coverage limit is Rs. 30,000 per year for a family of five. I was already involved in the research of government-supported insurance schemes in Karnataka, and knew that while they gave poor families 'access' to private hospitals (there are denials as well), the devil was in the out-of-pocket expenditure that followed.

Here the tale was different:
"हमने उनको भगा दिया", "किन को ?”  "अरे, कार्ड छापने वालों को!"
which roughly translates to: “We chased them away”, “Who?”, “The card printers!”

Every year, the RSBY card has to be re-issued, so Third Party Administrators (TPAs) go to these villages to enrol people in the scheme at a cost of Rs. 30. But my friends in SKMS (Sangtin Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan) were fed up of getting a useless card - “We go to Sitapur city with this card to all the private hospitals, but no one gives us free treatment”. So they refused to get enrolled and asked the TPA to leave. One year, the District Collector got involved – he went to some villages and requested the villagers to cooperate! But as far as I know, some are still holdouts.