Securing Social Security Schemes For Anita

Private Sector Engagement
By Shahazad Khan Pathan
28 Jul, 2022

Anita, a dalit farmer, lives in Kheri Tappa Lawar village (Daurala block, Meerut) with her two sons Saurabh and Neeraj. Neeraj is in class 11th and Saurabh has just passed 12th. Anita is a small sugarcane farmer and the family is entirely dependent on the cash crop.

Anita's husband died in August 2021 after a prolonged illness. During this time Anita and her family had to face a lot of difficulties. Despite the circumstances Anita continued working in the field in her husband’s place. During one of the meetings, the Oxfam India team met with Anita. Our team apprised her about the social security schemes such as the National Family Benefit Scheme and the Widow Pension Scheme by the Government of India.

Though she was eligible for these, she hadn’t applied for them. Our team helped her apply for these schemes; they have now been approved at the district level. Oxfam India is working to provide benefits of social security schemes to small sugarcane women farmers. So far we have been able to help 45 widowed small sugarcane women farmers in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur districts.

Oxfam India team is striving to increase community engagement at the village level on a regular basis. Community meetings and household visits have been our most powerful way to connect with the women sugarcane farmers. We are organising mohalla and village level meetings in the village, where we are also supported by the Village Panchayats and the youth. During our meetings we have detailed discussions about the problems the women face both at home and in the field.

We have trained our team on the different government schemes. We have also in the last few months held camps where we have invited government officers and employees to interact and assist the women with the processes involved in applying for these social security schemes. In the following months we hope to continue reaching out to many more marginalised women farmers in these three districts.

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