A Field Worker’s Diary _ Part 66
While working in Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project (APRPRP) in Guntur district, I was a livelihoods associate in name, but because we were part of the district level team, we were given a plethora of responsibilities. In 2006, my additional duties included implementing programs related to specially-abled people. In the context of this project, three mandals were selected to run a few pilot programs, especially for physically challenged people. As part of the pilot program, we had to form Disabled Self Help Groups (SHGs) and their Samakhyas or Federations much like the way we had facilitated women SHGs and their federations at mandal and district level. That was the first phase in the pilot project.
When we went to the three mandals selected for the pilot and held discussions with local specially-abled people, we found that most of them didn’t have a disability certificate as proof of their disability. Without them, they would not be eligible for any government welfare schemes for which they are entitled to. Even to receive visibility pension and bus and train ticket discount, this certificate is compulsory. So, the first duty in front of us was to facilitate all of them to get certificates. Without even certificates, how can we think of forming groups and talking about their rights with them?
Until then, I had no clue about the process of getting disability certificates. What I came to know during that time was that a person had to have at least 40% disability to get a disability certificate. Moreover, the certificate could only be given by a Medical Board in a government hospital notified by the state government as a certifying authority. For the board to give the certificate, a specially-abled person had to gather various types of documents including identity proof, recommendation letter from local health centre, address proof, photos, etc., and appear before the medical board in Guntur General Hospital. All the 3 pilot mandals – Vinukonda, Veldurthy and Bollapalli, were quite far from Guntur town. Going to Guntur from all three places would take around 3 hours of travel time.
In the first place, they were disabled, further, some didn’t even have family support. Is it possible for them to gather all these documents and go to Guntur, to wait for the doctor, and in case he is not there, to come back again and again to get the certificate? That was the reason so many people were without certificates.
The immediate thing I did was to conduct disability certification camps in these mandal headquarters. Firstly, I took my project director’s permission and held discussions with government hospital officials and selected the dates for organizing of the camps. However, government doctors stated that they needed special permission to leave their duties in the Hospital and attend the camps. Finally, we managed to arrange the camp with the orders and permission from the then-Joint Collector Rahul Bojja and the district medical and health officer. Our coordinators working in the mandals had informed everyone about the camps and helped them in collecting all the documents and kept everything ready beforehand. At the last moment, we had been told that there was only one instrument used to confirm hearing impairment at the hospital. If it had been brought to the camp, it would be problematic for many other patients at the hospital. Therefore, they told us to arrange for the instrument from somewhere else. We then started going around the town searching in private ENT hospitals for the instrument and found one hospital that agreed to rent it to us.
Anyhow, the camps were organised for three days in the three mandals. Each morning, we had to pick up the doctors from Guntur town, take them to the camps in a car and drop them back after the camp was over. By the time we finished work and reached home, it would be quite late. In the end, we managed to get the differently abled people in the mandals the necessary certificates.
At that time, I was 6 or 7 months pregnant. It was a little taxing for me to go around the offices and travel so far. Even though I travelled by car, it was very uncomfortable for me. I wondered then, how these physically challenged people could travel and come so far form an area without much transport facilities? How can they run around government offices to get the necessary documents? How would they be able to wait for hours on end for doctors at government hospitals and get their certificates?
Yes, many schemes have been designed to uplift the weakest and the most helpless sections in order to make them a part of the development process, keeping in mind the principles of Antyodaya and Sarvodaya. But, do the policymakers check if the schemes are actually accessible to the stakeholders? For those who can’t avail of the benefits of development, isn’t there a need to bend the rules a little bit? Whose responsibility is it to do it? I couldn’t find the answers to these questions till now.
Bharathi Kode