Nirmala appoints Dalit woman as her ‘envoy’

RAMANATHAPURAM

S. Jayakodi (30), a Dalit woman of Kallikudi, a remote village in the district, was given the rare privilege of ‘staying in touch’ with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman when the Minister chose her to send SMS alerts to her about the availability of drinking water in the village.

Ms. Sitharaman, who visited the village in Paramakudi taluk on Wednesday to review the implementation of ‘Gram Swaraj Abhiyan’ (GSA), the Centre’s village self-governance campaign to help 34 Dalit villages attain saturation in seven flagship pro-poor programmes, was impressed when Ms. Jayakodi, a class VI dropout, explained her their plight.

As the monsoon let down the drought-prone district for the second successive year, several villages, including Kallikudi, were in the grip of severe drinking water crisis. When Ms. Sitharaman began to interact with the people, mainly to know whether they benefited from the seven schemes, Ms. Jayakodi highlighted the drinking water problem.

“How can you expect us to use Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) when we buy a pot of water for ₹6?,” she asked. When the water was hardly enough for cooking, where was the question of using the IHHL, she said.

Collector S. Natarajan, who was with the Minister, said the district administration had made ready a bore well and the village would soon get regular water supply. Till then, the villagers should be supplied water through tankers.

Ms. Sitharaman appointed Ms. Jayakodi as her ‘envoy’. She asked the woman to send her SMS on the status of daily supply of water. The Minister also asked her to inform her of status of cooking gas connections to all households. “I am happy the Minister listened to our grievances and she asked me to send her SMS,” said Ms. Jayakodi.

After reviewing the implementation of the GSA at Kallikudi and Kalaiyur, both Dalit villages, Ms. Sitharaman said she was absolutely satisfied with the implementation of the scheme. The team work was perfect and she was confident that all the 34 villages in the district, selected for the scheme, would attain saturation in the seven schemes, she said.

The schemes included Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (clean cooking fuel), Saubhagya Ujala Scheme (LED lights), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (financial inclusion), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (life insurance), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (accident insurance) and Mission Indradhanush (health mission).