Ostracised by the society and shunned by their families, more than 100 HIV positive women seeking a permanent source of livelihood on Tuesday demanded dairy booth allotment feed their families.
Among these women was Laxmi (name changed) who married Babu (name changed) 10 years ago in Paldi Meena area of Jaipur and never realised that her life was going to be changed forever. Three years after marriage, when she got pregnant for the second time, Laxmi, then of 23 years age, during the ANC came to know that she was HIV positive. She was infected by her husband Babu, a truck driver, who died two years later, leaving Laxmi and two daughters.
“Soon after the death of my husband, my in-laws kicked us out of the house. Since then I am earning bread for my two children by working as a domestic help but as kids are growing up and it has become difficult to meet the basic needs like food even with the 1,500 per month income,” said Laxmi. I need a source of stable income.”
“NACO Rajasthan fact sheet reveals that 43 per cent of Women Living with HIV (WLHIV) are below 30 year age and 46% of them are widows,” Brijesh Dubey of Global Alliance of Human Rights said.
“Importantly 83 per cent of them were infected by their husband and 52 per cent of them live below poverty line with monthly income less than Rs 1,500. Dairy booth allotment can play significant role to alleviate income and give them a permanent source of livelihood so that they can easily run their nuclear family,” he added.
“The focus is to bring them in social protection net,” said Nandni Kapoor, Senior National Programme Advisor at UNAIDS.
“Rajasthan has number of social protection schemes but there is a lack of awareness. CSR can also play a huge role in empowering WLHIV and help them earn livelihood,” she added.
What makes Dairy Booth important?
- Milk procurement is an important source of income for over 8 crore milk producers. This underscores its role in alleviating income and employment
- Small scale dairy booth plays a vital role in the economy by increasing household income and has a great potential for improving the livelihood of WLHIV
Problems faced
- Poor socio-eco status
- Lack of employment opportunity
- Non acceptance in family and society
- WLHIV given no right to property
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