Rahul effect: After Kalavati, Shashikala too gets help

After Kalavati, luck shone for Shashikala Rengane, one of the two women who came to limelight ever since their names were mentioned in Parliament by Rahul Gandhi.

After Kalavati, luck shone for Shashikala Rengane, one of the two women who came to limelight ever since their names were mentioned in Parliament by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, as she received Rs 20 lakh from the Sulabh International on Thursday.

The NGO has allotted an amount of Rs 20 lakh as fixed deposit for 20 years, after which Shashikala will get the lump sum, Sulabh Chief Brindeshwar Pathak said after handing over the draft to her.

Together with her husband Prahlad and three children, a visibly happy Shashikala also received a saree and shawl.

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Commenting on the condition of the farmers in Vidharva and the successive suicides, Pathak slammed the government for mismanagement of available resources.

“The miserable condition of the farmers of Vidharva can be eradicated only if the government properly manages the resources. I think the government should introduce insurance for crops as it will help them to repay the debts, thus saving them from committing suicide,” he said.

Asking farmers to take loans from banks, Pathak suggested that government should conduct a survey of the debt-trapped families and help them.

He urged leading industrialists and richer sections of the society to contribute to the cause, as ‘it is not possible for Sulabh to take care of everybody’.

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The organisation had earlier handed over a similar amount to Kalawati — another woman mentioned during Gandhi’s speech during the trust vote in Parliament.

He had cited the women as microcosmic representatives of the farmers’ crisis in Vidharba region.