Friends, amidst the pandemic time, we are finding so little to cheer about. One particular piece of news which filled me with acute sorrow is that a small baby girl of five, lost her fight with life after going without food for one full week. I came to know about the plight of the girl from the The Times of India, reported the heartbreaking incident, two days ago. Baby Sonia, had a TB infected, bedridden father, two other siblings, the sole bread winner was the daily wager mother. The employment came to a naught due to the ongoing crisis. The little girl who didn’t even know the definition of suffering, went through an unimaginable pain of remaining hungry for a stretch of days. Fathom if we go hungry for even a single day, how bad we feel! It occurred in a small village near Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Its not that government is failing to provide food and monetary assistance to the hapless lot, yet the chink in the armour remains.
In this new age of information and technology, more and more people are availing the government sops. Still this unfortunate family remained outside the ambit as they have no Aadhar card. I wonder if the people of local Panchayat, Block Development Officer or for that matter their neighbors taken cognizance of their dire state well in time, the tragedy could have been averted.
The irony is that, after the story came to light the authorities have seem to go into overdrive taking promt action of providing Adhaar card to the remaining members of the family, Ujjwala gas connection and also giving them enough food grains, pulses and cooking oil. Neighbors have come together to give them milk and vegetables. The administration have taken responsibility of education to the remaining two living children. How nice it would have been if the measures were taken earlier! A beautiful life might not have been snuffed out. But in hindi, there is a saying, ‘der aye, duroost aye”, it means better late than never.
If the administration becomes more alert and the common citizen more vigilant, then hopefully this kind of painful occurrence will not repeat itself. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the reporter of the news paper, which has atleast made the lives of remaining members of the family smooth.
More is still to be done by us, to ensure that nobody around us would go through such difficulties. If we unitedly be vigilant about the proceedings all arond us, the community will greatly be served. So friends let us pledge to make the lives of the people in need, more livable, more comfortable , be the connector between the provider and the deprived.
Be happy and endeavor to make others life happy too!
Adieu for now.
(Featured image courtesy: A pencil sketch by my daughter)