The last time Usha Devi saw Dharmendra Ram, he was a shriveled remain of his even normally shrunken self. “He emitted a cry, heaved and then went silent. I couldn’t even get him one last cup of tea,” she says.
And thus ended the life of Usha’s 28-year-old husband. He died sick and hungry – without a ration card. Dharmendra Ram had the all-important Aadhaar card that could verify his identity at the ration shop. But it was useless without an actual ration card.
Dharmendra’s death in August 2016 drew many visitors and much attention to his village of Dharauta in Allahabad’s Mauaima block. The local media demanded that district officials visit. The Village Development Officer and the lekhpal (village accountant) were suspended. A clutch of reliefs was announced. (Among them, Rs. 30,000 under the National Family Benefit Scheme and a parcel of five biswa or 570 square metres, of farmland). Local politicians rushed to this village of barely 500 households. His wife was suddenly found eligible for the state government’s disability pension of Rs. 500.
— source ruralindiaonline.org | Puja Awasthi | May 19, 2022