Andhra Pradesh secured an index value of 0.0825 in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report-2017.
The value ranges from 0 to 1; 0 being the best and 1 being the worst.
Contrary to it, 55-year-old Mudigonda Kesava Rao has been making the rounds in the corridors of Secretariat seeking financial assistance from the Chief Minister.
Mr. Kesava Rao and his wife had to sell their kidneys to make both ends meet. This apart, both of them had lost one of their legs in accidents. “I do not curse my poverty. I only seek a helping hand to eke out livelihood,” says Mr. Rao.
While his wife is “almost bedridden,” Mr. Rao is seen at the Secretariat trying in vain to gain the Chief Minister’s audience.
“I am ready to work. But nobody is willing to give me a job citing my handicap as a reason,” says Mr. Rao, who had lost his job when a private mill at Hanuman Junction downed shutters in the 80s.
Accident
He met with a railway accident in 1987 and lost his leg. Later, he could not secure any job. During the same time, his wife had suffered a snakebite and doctors amputated her leg.
“As there was no other means of income, I had to sell my kidney. The recipient of my kidney helped me in starting a pan shop at Hanuman Junction,” says Mr. Rao.
As the shop ran into losses, Mr. Rao was ready to donate one of his eyes. His plight caught the attention of the proprietors of the Y.V. Rao Estates.
“There was a ray of hope when they gave me a watchman job. But I lost the job again when the estate was sold out,” he laments.
Thereafter, he worked as a watchman when the JNNURM housing project was going on.
“Now, nobody is willing to give me a job,” Mr. Rao rues.
“My wife sold her kidney, which fetched us about ₹30,000. The former Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, had helped us by arranging ₹1 lakh. We performed the marriage of our daughter with a part of the money and have been using the remaining judiciously all these years,” Mr. Kesava Rao says.
His son earns about ₹5,000 as part-time employee and goes to college.
“The earnings are not sufficient though we have a ration card. My efforts to see the Chief Minister through our MLA have not borne fruit,” laments Mr. Rao, who lives in a rented house at the Jakkampudi Housing Colony.
