Nusrat Khatoon ke badhte kadam (Slide Project)
Miss Nusrat Jahan daughter of Gulpham Ansari is a widow, residing in her mother’s house in Ward No 9 (Nathu Das ka Tola) of Shivrahi Mathia Panchayat of Nautan block. She was married to a person who was an inhabitant of the neighboring district i.e., East Champaran. She has a son. When her son grew little older, at the age of 10 years, Her husband expired and his family drove her away forcibly from Husband’s house and forced her to reside in the small house of her mother.
She did not have any land for building house or agricultural purposes. During the formation of a farmers’ interest group in her hamlet, she was encouraged to join the group and learn about vegetable cultivation and various govt schemes which could be fetched by her to live a good life.
Due to her husband’s death at an early stage, she always kept her sad and did not find any way to live a dignified life. It was very difficult for her to live life with her son as her parents belonged to a poor family.
She was suggested by Sabji Mitra to stay cool and calm. During the farmers’ interest group meeting, she shared her whole story with the members’ group.
The group members took her to a nearby private school and admitted her son to it. They also persuaded the owner of the school to reduce the fees in view of her present condition. At last, the owner of the school reduced the fees for her son which made her satisfied as her son would go to school and get a good education. She was also encouraged to join Jeevika women’s group in her hamlet and applied for the opening of a shop of daily needs. Jeevika financed her and she started earning to look after the family to some extent. She was semi-literate and used to help the group in writing the minutes and accounts, the other group members always tried to boost her morale and pay respect to her.
She was also encouraged to take some land on lease and start vegetable cultivation with the help of the provision of seeds and regular on-job pieces of training. She took some land and started vegetable farming which boosted her morale as she got good money as well as nutritious food for her and her child.
Regarding her interest towards education, group members suggested continuing her study for an intermediate of arts and also decided to fund/support for continuation of her education. This effort by her, made other girls in the hamlet go for higher education who left their education due to marriages at lower age or left school for other reasons. This move also discouraged other families who were interested in marriage of their girl children at lower ages. With her earnings from her own shop and the cultivation of vegetables, apart from managing daily needs, she bought 150 meters of residential land and applied for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna. Being a widow, govt prioritized her name and provided sanctioned money for building a house on her own land. Now she is living a good life in her own house, the child and she is continuing their studies. Now she has made an example in her own hamlet and around other hamlets.