Sunamoni Nali, a 63 years old tribal woman of Ranginiguda village in Chaulmendi GP under Mathili Block of Malkangiri District lives with her husband Bhagban Nali, one traumatised divorcee daughter of 38 and two granddaughters.

During the lock down, when Sunamoni was asked about her wellbeing by the Volunteer of CYSD, she replied, “I came to know that a novel virus named Corona has started infecting the people in our country and whoever comes in contact with Corona will die. Owing to this critical situation the Govt has declared lock down for till 3rd of May. All the villagers have to obey the government rules and nobody will be allowed to go outside unless there is exigency. Even the people will not go for daily work either in forest or in farm land until the withdrawal of lock down period. But, the government will provide ration of three months in advance to all ration card holders of the village”. Further, she added, “Getting this news, I was too much worried as to how I will manage food for 5 members with the ration support of 3 persons; and even without any income during this lock down. Thereafter, I rushed to a person known me in the village to enquire about the matter and get the doubt clarified. The person informed me about the community kitchen arrangement made by the Government, where we can get two square meal per day per person. But later, I was shocked when I got to know that my daughter’s family members name have been rejected from the community kitchen list for unknown reason.”

Following the lockdown, the Sunamoni family was forced to sever distress as labour being the only income source was debarred. She bravely managed feeding her 5-member family with the Government support which was insufficient for them. On other the side, her family members’ name were deleted from the community kitchen list, though they deserved it. The matter was inquired by the volunteer of CYSD, Mr. Kamarlal Patla where he found that the father of existing Sarpanch, who acts as the proxy Sarpanch of Chaulmendi GP, had deliberately erased the names of some deserving persons of the Panchayat and cunningly included the names of some favoured persons those  supported his son during last election campaign. The matter was informed to the concerned Panchayat Executive Officer (PEO) and demand was made for inclusion of the real needy persons in the community kitchen beneficiaries list. But the PEO was disagreed to change the beneficiaries list as it was already uploaded in the government website. Here, the fact was that not only Sunamoni family members’ name but also many deserving persons’ name from different villages under Chaulmendi Panchayat were missed in the community kitchen beneficiaries list.

The volunteer brought the issue to the notice of   CYSD’s Child Development Programme Office based in  Malkangiri for a solution. With proper advice, immediately the volunteer together with the leaders of Chaulimendi village Youth Club made a demand before the PEO & Sarapanch that if the case will not be solved by them here, then the Youth Club can lodge an online petition with the Hon’ble Minister of State, PPG&P, Government of India for intervention to solve the grievance. This tricky strategy compelled the PEO & Sarapanch to include all left out families of Bandhaguda, Gajolkonda & Nuaguda villages having households of 40, 35 & 54 respectively under the community kitchen program beneficiaries list.

Moreover, to the credit of Chaulimendi Youth Club leaders, they were engaged in distribution of survival kits and hygiene kits to the vulnerable households including Sunamoni, jointly being supported by CYSD and Child Fund India and organising different awareness camps in the community. Besides, they are now engaged in the process of collecting data of all left out PDS card holders in the Panchayat, caused due to non-linkage of Aadhar Card number, which will be submitted to the Panchayat for regularising the entitlements to the left outs.