‘Pradhan Mantri Bapu’ Helps 1 Orphan Girl, but What About Others?

An orphan girl listens to ‘Mann Ki Baat’ & writes a letter to the PM. She gets a response, but she’s not satisfied.

(Image: The Quint/Liju Joseph)

Fifteen-year-old Neha was washing utensils when she heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s voice on TV. It was a lazy Sunday morning at Kinwat in Nanded district of Maharashtra. While her friends were playing outside, Neha had to work to earn her livelihood. Her parents had succumbed to a deadly disease and her sister was bedridden. The relatives had abandoned them, so they had gone live with their ailing grandmother.

While working, Neha would constantly think about the treatment of her younger sister. Her chain of thoughts broke when the Prime Minister started reading out letters written to him. She quickly washed her hands and rushed to the drawing room of the house she worked at.

The show, Mann Ki Baat, gave her a hope. She thought that the PM could help her. She asked for a piece of paper and noted down the address. The same night, she wrote a moving letter to the PM in her broken Hindi. Interestingly, she addressed him ‘Pradhan Mantri Bapu’.

“I am an unfortunate girl… I’m not writing this letter to a Prime Minister. I consider you as my mother and father. Please give your daughter a new life.”

A copy of Neha’s letter to the Prime Minister.

The PM’s Office Responded, but...

The innocent girl was eagerly awaiting a reply from her ‘Bapu’. And she actually got one! An officer from the Collector office came to see her within a month. She was promised a yellow ration card, Rs. 600 per month under Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana, free treatment for her sister at Kinwat and job for her grandmother.

Neha, her sister, her grandmother with Nanded Collector Suresh Kakani and Assistant Collector Dr. Rajendra Bharud. (Photo: Ashish Dikshit)

When we contacted Neha, her feelings were mixed. She was expecting direct financial help, which the government cannot provide. And half of the promises were not fulfilled.

My sister is now getting free treatment at a nearby hospital. But I’m still washing utensils and my grandmother is still working on daily wages. We somehow manage to eat and pay rent with the 1,100 rupees that we earn every month. I want to study, but I have no money. We were promised a lot of things, but didn’t get all of them.

Neha

The district administration, which had swung into action after receiving a letter from the Prime Minister’s Office, cited technical reasons for the delay.

It will take some time. Things cannot happen overnight. We have to get approval from a council for putting her name in Naradhar Yojana.  She will get it (help under the scheme) by 15 August. 

Suresh Kakani, Collector, Nanded

Why React Only When Delhi Rings Up?

PM Narendra Modi shares his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ every month on All India Radio and Doordarshan. (Photo Courtesy: narendramodi.in)

One can understand the Collector’s point that processes take some time. But why does a girl need to write a letter to the Prime Minister of the country to get the help she deserves? Why can’t we create fool-proof systems, where beneficiaries get assured assistance under the schemes they fit in?

We have enrolled a lot of beneficiaries. Roughly 25,000 people in Nanded district get help under Niradhar Yojana. But some people are left out. We regularly set up camps across the district to inform people about various schemes.

Suresh Kakani, Collector, Nanded

Then we asked the same question to decision makers at the PMO. An officer said on the condition of anonymity:

Around 80 percent of the issues of common people are related to local bodies and local administration. A lot depends on the the willpower and empathy shown by officers at the level of tehsildar.

Officer at the PMO

Marketing Gimmick?

Recently, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had responded to some SMSes sent to him by debt-ridden farmers. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu addresses problems of his passengers on Twitter.

Is Delhi/Mumbai ringing up for an unknown, poor person a new thing? Is this cherry-picking a new marketing gimmick of these leaders?

It used to happen before too. Now it gets organised publicity. The leader gets admiration, the victim gets temporary relief, but the system remains unchanged. A true leader should think of making systemic changes.

Anant Dixit, Senior Journalist

We can look at the same issue from a different side. When a top leader intervenes to solve an issue of a common man, it sends a message to all officers that the leader is directly in touch with the masses and then officers perform their duties more carefully.

But there cannot be two opinions about the fact that we definitely need fool-proof systems, which will not leave out the needy like Neha. And to create such systems, we need visionary leaders and efficient as well as empathetic officers.