I was reading an interesting story Back against the wall in Kashipur in the Sunday-Guardian datelined April 19, 2014 by Aditya Mani Jha. It related to Kush Badhwars experimental film Blood Earth. Jha writes about an indoor meeting in Kucheipadar village of locals fighting for their land, resisting its appropriation for bauxite mining. This morning, I am on Kucheipadar village for another reason. The village has a Primary Health Centre (PHC). A Lady Doctor ( Ayurveda) has been working there for over five years. She is a mother; her lone child, a daughter, lives in Bhubaneswar with her father and grandfather. She is in class VI in a city English Medium School. The grandfather is a widower; about eighty years old and a government pensioner. The fathers parental role seems limited to taking the child to the school and bringing her back home. Rearing of the child is primarily by the aged grandfather. Between her parents, the Mother of the child seems to be the breadwinner. The lady has been trying to come closer to her growing daughter; the father-in-law too wants this to happen. The PHC has no other Doctor. This could be the official ground not to grant her legitimate prayer. This is how government functions. It would not be able to post an Allopathic Doctor in a PHC which is close to an upcoming huge Aluminium Complex about which Aditya Mani Jha writes in the Sunday-Guardian. The lady looks destined to suffer long stay at Kucheipadar. She lives at Kashipur, about twelve kilometres away and commutes, in her two-wheeler. The father-in-law has absolutely no clue about a solution though he had worked for years with a Chief Minister, years ago. Style of governance has changed in the meantime, beyond recognition. Stonewalls have been erected, both around public offices and officials mind. He found in me a sympathetic listener. I listened to him eagerly in the Temple garden, while walking in the morning without knowing how I could unite the child with her mother.. **********
Posted on: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 02:21:44 +0000
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