The girl child of Bandhuwakda

There are over 1.2 lakh women’s self-help groups (SHGs) in 42 districts of Uttar Pradesh under the umbrella of the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana. For a large number of the women, the SHGs are their lifeline. They have pulled them out of economic despair and given direction to their life.

Over the years the collectives have honed their leadership qualities, taught them to negotiate with bank officials and the district administration, and given them vital knowledge about maternal and child survival and other skills to move ahead in life. The SHGs draw strength from each other and coalesce into a federation.

Five years ago, the SHG at Bandhuwakda village of Dubeypur block, Sultanpur district, took on a new task. It adopted a newborn. The girl child was weak, hungry and abandoned by her mother within hours of her birth. She was named Ekta, after the collective that had adopted her when she was six months old.

Fifty-five-year-old Gangadevi, a member of the SHG, became her new mother. She had given food and shelter to the baby’s mother on December 31, 2010, after she was found wandering in a distraught state, pregnant and in a petticoat and blouse on the Lucknow-Kolkata highway near the village.

Ekta’s mother looked mentally unstable but had followed Gangadevi home. She was given a sari to wear, food and a place to sleep. It was late into the night when she developed labour pains and a midwife was called to assist with the delivery. Ekta was born on January 1.

The next morning, when Gangadevi went into the outhouse, the mother was missing and little Ekta, bleeding from both eyes, was found wrapped in clothes in a corner. Gangadevi cleaned her eyes, tried to feed her with fresh cow’s milk and called a doctor.

Moved by the plight of both the newborn and Gangadevi, who suddenly had to shoulder the responsibility for a weak and bleeding infant, the doctor left some money and suggested taking Ekta to a hospital to save her eyes.

Alongside the daily trips to the hospital, a search was launched for the missing mother. A month and a half later, a woman wearing the sari given by Gangadevi to Ekta’s mother was found dead in an accident on the highway. Gangadevi got to know about it quite by chance and could not confirm if it was Ekta’s mother. She says the woman had disclosed her name as Tara on the night she came to Dubeypur. From her looks and speech, she appeared to be from Bengal or Bihar.

Ekta’s story has a silver lining and reveals the potential of SHGs. Though Gangadevi and her husband, a peanut vendor, are recognised as and called mother and father, five-year-old Ekta has some hundred foster mothers and well-wishers in the Ekta Mahila Block Sangathan. Her birthday is celebrated by the block-level association of SHGs every year and they come together to contribute funds, clothes and take decisions for her upbringing.

Though she has not got a birth certificate yet, because no one knows who her parents are, her name has been entered in a ration card as the second daughter of one of Gangadevi’s three sons.

The Ekta fund has now swelled to one lakh rupees and is with the block-level association. Currently, discussions are on to decide where and how to invest the money, so that it comes to Ekta when she is old enough to marry. It can also be used for her education if she shows an inclination.

When I met Ekta in mid-June there was rejoicing because she had just got admission to Class 1 of the Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir with the blessings of the SHG, which provided the admission fee of ₹800 and tuition fee of ₹200.

Like the funds, the number of her well-wishers has grown. The Gramin Bank Director has assured he will pay for her marriage and the RGMVP has to get the adoption papers legalised so that Ekta grows up secure in a home she loves.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi

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