Hope in a piggy bank

Pregnant women of a UP village save for their deliveries....

The little terracotta urn occupies the pride of place in Geeta Devis room,next to the powder ka dibba. Every time she walks past it,she puts in a coin or two,an investment for the baby she is expectingher first child. The urn,a little piggy bank called the prasav suraksha golak,was gifted to her by the village health and sanitation committee.

The golaks,an initiative of the village committee under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM),help pregnant women in Shyamdaspur village in Hardoi district,some 84 km from Lucknow,plan for their deliveries and put away some money for the big day.

The idea of the piggy banks has caught on. So now,Geetas husband Shivkumar too puts in a rupee or two into the golak.

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Krishnavati was three months pregnant when she got a golak from the village committee. Her in-laws,husband and other family members too contributed regularly to this piggy bank. By the time of her delivery,Krishnavati had managed to save around Rs 600. And the money came in handy when the family had to rush her to the district hospital for her delivery.

In the last eight months since this scheme was introduced in Shyamdaspur village,five women have benefited from the money they saved up in their golaks. Now,a function is held in the village every fortnight where the village health committeethe gram pradhan,the auxiliary midwife nurse,the auxiliary social health activist (ASHA) and some eminent villagerspresents the golaks to pregnant women. The piggy bank is given with a token amount in it,anything between Rs 5 and Rs 11.

The golak initiative was started by the village health committee and Rahi Foundation,an NGO that works under the Sure Start programme to introduce innovations in the NRHM,and covers 39 villages in Bharawan and Kothawa blocks of Hardoi district.

And the idea seems to have clicked. Kanti Devi,an ASHA worker,says,When we were told about the golak,we couldnt understand how these would help pregnant women. But now,we have seen how handy they can be and are promoting the practice.

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Mahendra Pal Singh,who acts as a jeewan mitra in the villagethe jeewan mitra,under the NRHM,provides free transportation to ensure that a pregnant women is taken to the nearest health centresays,Through this practice,we have not only inculcated the habit of saving for the pregnant woman by her family,but also ensured that the family has some money handy for emergencies.

The health committee also ensures that there is no misuse of the money in golaks. Mohandas,the village pradhan,says,Since the ASHA workers and auxiliary midwife nurses regularly visit homes of pregnant women,they monitor the piggy bank.