Dhula damor and his wife Surta Damor use to live in village Sheranagle, Anandpuri block. They are four members in including two girls child. They have small piece of land i.e. 2 bigha for doing agriculture which is totally rainfed. They use to grow maize, wheat, rice and pigeon pea in cropping season. Poor health of land was a reason for less production and it was available for 5 to 6 months. He used to buy food material to fulfillment of food availability over the year for his family. For this, he migrated to Ahemdabad and Surat where he engages in construction work for 5 months. His wife is stayed at home for taking care of children. During his migration, his wife had suffered for lacking of money. Sometime, in such situation she could not feed her children and she used to sleep starving. Neither she go to Aanganwadi centre and nor sends her children.

One day she took participation in PLA_LANN meeting conducted by VAAGDHARA in her village. In that meeting facilitator was taking anthropometric measurement of participated children (upto 59 months). Kavita whose age was 18 months also measured during the activity and her mother was called and told that your child measure as SAM-Sever Acute Malnourished (Height=70 cm, Weight= 6.3 Kg, MUAC= 10.7 and Z score=-3SD). When she was asked about poor health of the child she replied that the child is weak from birth. In that village LANN volunteer understood her about the situation of the child. Next day Surta took the child to MTC- Malnutrition Treatment Centre which is 73 Kms away from the village. Surta stayed there for 15 days. LANN-Volunteer gave his full support to family in that situation. Dhula came back at home and her wife told everything to him. In next meeting, dhula and his wife come together. After that they attended meeting regularly. 15 days Nutrition camp organized in the village. Surta and her daughter Kavita participated in the camp regularly through which the child’s health improved. After 8 months, she was 26 months old and Height= 76.4 cm, Weight= 8.7 Kg, MUAC= 14 and  Z score= -1SD.

PLA LANN meetings brought changes in their life. Dhula did changes in agriculture. He adopted sustainable Integrated Farming System through and crop diversity increased, saving started after using organic manure and pesticides, started preservation of indigenous seeds for next crop. In summers, they started having dried vegetables including green leafy and others. Family developed Kitchen garden at backyard of home and growing seasonal vegetables and Banana, Mango, Lemon and Papaya fruit plants for their own consumption. Individual diet diversity increased of every member and hunger period is reduced for 3 months. He benefited by MGNREGA and sanctioned individual work plan up to 3 lac amount for his land development work, plantation and compost pit development. Migration is also stopped because he got employment under MGNREGA.

He “Dhula” thanked to all VAAGDHARA team specially LANN Volunteers who saved child health, supported in agriculture and income.

Name: Mithalal Lalji Grasia
Village: Hadmat
Taluka/district: Gangadtalai, Banswara

Every year during summer, Mithalal used to migrate to Surat for 4-5 months to work as construction labour. When Vaagdhara started work in Hadmat village in 2018, Mithalal’s wife, Geeta Devi decided to join the village’s Saksham Samuh as a member. As luck would have it, soon, Mithalal was selected as a Swaraj Mitra to provide training to the Saksham Samuh members on SIFS practices. The couple was not aware at the time of how transformational these events will be for their lives.

Before long, they had converted 2 bighas of their 5-bigha land into organic, replacing costly agrochemicals with bio-inputs which they prepared at home. By their own estimate, they were able to save Rs. 4,800/- in one year by switching to bio-inputs. A greater understanding of sustainable agriculture practices provided other benefits as well – Mithalal and Geeta Devi took to inter-cropping of pigeon pea with maize, their traditional food crop. They even set up a small nutrition garden, taking vegetables such as brinjal, ladyfinger, cauliflower, onion, spinach, fenugreek, tomato and cluster beans.

This not only helped them save upto Rs. 200/- per week that they were spending on buying vegetables from the market, but also provided a surplus which they could sell in the weekly haat bazaar and earn additional income. But what was perhaps most significant was how the nutrition garden helped improve the family’s diet diversity and ensured a supply of vegetables grown without any chemicals, thereby contributing to their health and well-being.

Facilitating Gram Chaupal meetings also helped Mithalal influence the village panchayat to get a bund constructed on his farmland, as a result of which he is now able to cultivate all of his 5 bighas of land. He has not migrated since 2018 – he does not need to, busy as he is with his job and motivating other youth of the village to stay back and give agriculture, another chance. His next task now is to convert his remaining 3 bighas of land into organic.

Innama’al usri yusran (Verily, along with every hardship is relief) is a universally accepted wisdom of the Holy Quran. It helps people endure suffering with stoic patience and ultimately emerge as victors in life. Amin Mansoori, a young man without hands, has written the success of this dictum with his feet.

Mansoori was born into a poor family in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh. His poverty was more than material depravity – he didn’t have hands since birth. Yet, he pursued education with passion. He completed his graduation from Indore. He learnt to write and operate computers with his feet.

Amin’s father Iqbal is a tailor and has struggled to educate Amin and his siblings with a meager income that he has been eking out.

“Several doctors suggested that I get help with artificial implants, but I started living with my present condition,” he said in a local media interview.

Amin never saw his impairment as a limitation because he was intellectually gifted from a young age. In 2012, while he was a class eleven student, he created a solar cooker project that was chosen on a national level. He was recognised for this.

Last week, he emerged as the topper of the exam for selection of patwari or lekhpal (or land record accountant) in his district. He is perhaps the sole Indian to achieve such a rare feat with feet. He scored 127 marks out of 200 in the Locomotor disability category (divyang category).

Ameen said that he used to study for almost 12 hours every day, and that during the downtime he practiced writing fast with his toes.

Amin told the local media that he had made up his mind to join the government service just after completing his graduation. “I am lucky that I am through my first attempt itself. It’s all because of devoted support from my family,” Amin said in an interview.

He said that no one can complain that paucity of resources or physical abilities can mar one’s chances of moving ahead in life. “Those people who are getting all the facilities, they should also work hard and success will definitely be in hand,” he added.

The job of a patwari requires the official to keep track of complex land records in rural areas, especially those lands that are connected with agrarian purposes. Amin has prepared himself to perform such a difficult task with honesty as this job is believed to bedazzle officers with lust for lucre as disputing parties often offer a lot of bribe.

His success story is being discussed all over India, and rightly so.