70-year-old woman helps others get government benefits | Fusion - WeRIndia

While many aged people depend on others for help, this elderly woman helps others in getting benefits from government schemes.

Rupuli Jakaka, a 70-year-old woman from Halva panchayat, has been helping many poor women for around four decades to access government benefits.

So far, she helped around 5,000 people in 18 villages. Locals fondly call her Mother Teresa of Halva in recognition of her service.

Rupuli started helping others at the age of 32 years. Her husband was a daily wager. He died 40 years ago.

One day he suddenly fell ill. Even though doctors tried to save him, they could not do so. They provided him with preliminary treatment. However, due to a lack of funds, Rupuli could not buy medicines for his treatment. She approached many government offices to get medical aid for her husband but nobody helped her.

After the death of her husband, Rupuli decided to help others who struggle for government assistance. This is because many people in her community are not aware of government schemes and provisions. They even do not know the basic things like getting a birth or death certificate. So, she started creating awareness of government benefits in people.

While selling non-timber produce from forests to make daily ends for herself and her daughter, Rupuli spent some time with other poor people in her community.

Rupuli would listen to the problems of others and submit their applications to the officials on their behalf. She used to get help in writing applications from the local school administration. Rupuli started devoting her time to social work completely after her daughter’s marriage. She aims to help several poor people avail of government benefits.

Now, even at 70, she visits many villages to know their problems. Recently, the Rayagada administration felicitated her for her social work and selfless efforts.

Image Credit: Shiv’s fotografia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lifestyle_of_tribal_folks_is_visible.jpg