Background Information- For the tribal communities living in remote, rural settings, availing even minor services offered by their Gram-Panchayats can be a long, tedious process, providing little relief and support for the vulnerable communities. This particular tribal community has been living in Pratapgarh district for many years. Their main livelihood has come from farming, livestock and wages, which, in the past, had allowed them to take care of their families. Nowadays, the local communities are continuously struggling to generate an adequate livelihood, which is why many schemes have been prepared & launched by the government for their development, such as the Right to Education, MGNREGA & other public welfare schemes. These initiatives have given some relief to the community, but due to a lack of publicity & public awareness for the schemes, many families are still not benefiting from them.

Case with Details - Ramesh s/o Shankar, aged 40 years, lived in the village Upala Ghantala (tehsil- Pipalkhunt, district- Pratapgarh). He used to live there with his wife Meera and their 5 children, when one day, he fell into a depression and ran away from home, never to return. As is common in such a situation, his wife Meera left her children and went to live with another man (‘Nata Pratha’ is a tradition amongst the Bhil Adivasis, where a man can live together with a previously married woman if he pays money to her previous husband or her parents, and she abandons her children). In effect, all 5 of their children became orphans, and they were not able to benefit from any kind of public welfare scheme. Meera left her children to live at their maternal grandfather, Kishan s/o Badiya’s house in Dharana village of the Pipalkhunt tehsil. The oldest, Payal, was 12 years old at the time, followed by Etu- 10 years old, Kapil- 8 years old, Ramlal- 5 years old, and Laxman, who was only 4 years old. None of them were connected with schools or Anganwadi centres, and two of them were seriously ill.

Effort Made by Vaagdhara- On 17^th February 2023, When the members of the Village development and child rights committee and Vaagdhara heard of this, they went to the maternal grandparents' house to meet the children & collect all kinds of information related to them, in order to inform the higher officials of the concerned department. After that, the Pipalkhoont Sub-Divisional Officer went to Kishan's house and forwarded the complete report. The government officials got the two severely malnourished boys and girls admitted to Pipalkhunt government hospital for treatment and instructed government workers to help the children access their rightful benefits under various public welfare schemes.

How the Changes Start- The Sub-Divisional Officer of Pipalkhunt asked Vaagdhara for their help. First, the girl Payal was admitted to a government school, two children were connected with a Maa Bari centre, and the two youngest children were brought to an Anganwadi centre. Nutrition kits were provided to the two malnourished children and a letter was issued to the Social Justice Empowerment Department of Banswara to link the children with the scheme of guardianship, making a request for a special category. The children’s grandparents had not been receiving a pension, so an application was made for this. According to Dhanraj Kumawat from Vaagdhara, a lack of awareness about the schemes meant the family was not able to avail of them, and the government was not aware of their problems. According to Vaagdhara, all children should be able to access mainstream schemes and services like schools and Anganwadi. The action was also taken at the state level to add this to the government’s Palanhar scheme.

Changes coming afterwards- Working together with Vaagdhara’s team, the promptness with which the responsible administration cooperated with the family and connected all five children to the relevant government scheme is truly commendable. The appreciable work of Premlata and other Vaagdhara team members greatly benefitted said family.