Kerala - Kochi   

Condemned to live on charity

Photo: Anand Haridas

LIFE AS USUAL: At the Palluruthy Relief Settlement in Kochi. –

KOCHI: There is still time before lunch is served. But many of those who stay at the Palluruthy Relief Settlement have started their wait. And most of them are oblivious of the soaring price of commodities in the outside world.

These people have long been separated from the mainstream society. They are remembered only on special occasions in someone’s family. And they are the silent victims of the price war. The scene is no different at majority of the charitable organisations in the district.

“We depend on grants from the State and support from Church to run this organisation. Even then it is hard, as we find many things in the market way beyond our reach,” says Sister Hermonita of Mount Carmel Orphanage, Pachalam.

With 73 members, all girls aged between 6 and 17, the orphanage is resorting to cutting short maintenance expenditure. “Whitewashing of the building is long pending, but we are not in a position to do that now,” she said.

The condition is worse for someone depending only on the philanthropic moods of society. “Donations are our sole income. We don’t know who is offering the next meal. We leave it all to the God,” says Usman, manager of KPAMM Yathimkhana, Edappally.

“Earlier we could manage with a monthly purchase of Rs.15,000, now even Rs.20,000 is not enough. A kilogram of beef that used to cost Rs.70 is now priced at Rs.100,” he says.

Compared to them, those supported by the official machinery are slightly well-off, at least for now. “We purchase material according to the quota allotted for each inmate, irrespective of its market price,” says P.G. George, Superintendent of Palluruthy Relief Settlement, run by the Corporation.

He has not yet felt a dip in the donations and is ready to give it a year’s time for a clear trend to emerge. But he chooses to be optimistic.

“Only those with genuine interest support us and they will continue to do that, even though it is only a minority.”

But that does not fulfil the needs of the deprived, especially when it comes to taking care of the ill and the aged. “We find procuring medicines very difficult. Many of our inmates were picked up from the street and need constant medical support — given their fragile mental health,” says Sister Jerome of Sisters of Destitute. She is among those who serve the members of the Good Hope Old Age Home, Fort Kochi, an annexe of the Palluruthy Relief Settlement.

Also, the State machinery is not flexible enough to accommodate the fluctuations of market.

“Usually grants are fixed and the present situation might require providing support from outside. No such trend has been noticed so far, though,” said M. Beena, District Collector.

And those closely monitoring the social changes predict the philanthropic streams too would dry up soon.

“The support extended by the middle class families might end as their own food expenditure has shot up. Even otherwise the sense of social responsibility is on the wane or else many of these people would not have been there in old age homes in the first place,” says C.R. Neelakantan, rights activist.

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