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Rahul Gandhi's Kalawati a saga of courage

A frail looking lady Kalawati Bandurkar from Vidharba, who was referred to by Rahul Gandhi, is facing a tough time as her Jalka village is faced by 12-hour power shortage.

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NAGPUR: A frail looking lady Kalawati Bandurkar from Vidharba, who was referred to by Rahul Gandhi, is facing a tough time as her Jalka village is faced by 12-hour power shortage.
       
Kalawati is so poor that she cannot afford to get power connection in her house. Living in abject poverty, Kalawati finds it difficult to even meet both the ends.
       
This is the woman Rahul Gandhi spoke about in his speech during the trust motion in the lower house of the Parliament.
       
Though Kalawati's life is an ordeal, it is a saga of courage and discipline. The widow with a big family of seven daughters and two sons had not given up after her husband, Parshuram ended life on Dec 23, 2005 in Jalka village in neighbouring Yavatmal district, about 120 kms near here.
       
After her husband's death, many social workers and organisation started pouring help as usual.
       
An NGO, Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti which is taking the cause of farmers from the suicide belt in Vidarbha region and particularly from suicide capital Yavatmal, extended a helping hand by providing two buffaloes and assistance in educating her children, Samiti President Kishore Tiwari said on Wednesday.
       
Holding a nine-acre agriculture land, she has done well on conservative farming and thus set an example by sowing traditional cash crop of cotton and soyabean in the black soil.
       
A Marathi daily from Mumbai through its readers had collected some money and a Delhi social worker was regularly sending her financial help to overcome the crisis.
       
Even after her husband's death, Kalawati Bai (as referred to a woman in Marathi), not only married off her eligible daughters but is looking after their children too.        

When Rahul Gandhi decided to visit Vidarbha region which has witnessed unabated suicides by farmers in the past, a team made a quiet visit to select places there for a feedback and Jalka was one of the villages they picked up for Congress General Secretary's visit.
       
Kalawati, a resident of Jalka, could not recognise Rahul when the motorcade carrying the VIP stopped suddenly before her small hutment on a hot and humid morning.
       
"Ha Rahul Gandhi Aahe, Indira Gandhicha Natu" (he is Rahul Gandhi, grandson of Indira Gandhi), someone whispered in her ears prompting her to welcome the young leader with a folded hand.
       
In yesterday's speech during the trust motion, Rahul, who was moved by the plight of hundreds of Kalawatis like the one he referred, stressed the need of nuclear energy as the power crisis was bound to hound some more time.
       
While defending the Indo-US nulcear deal which will help India get rid of power shortage, thanks to atomic power generation, Rahul brought the woes of Vidarbha farmers on the floor of the August house.
       
However, Kalawati had no electricity at her house either to watch Rahul Gandhi's live debate or know the final verdict of Parliament which went in favour of UPA Government since it was a load shedding hour.

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