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Manual Workers: Assets for the Society 187

tribals were always at the centre of any movement that
Mahatma Gandhi started. No society, no management or no
power can do without the lowest sections of the society. I believe
that those who genuinely belong to this country are convinced
that we cannot move forward without following the same
ideology. I respect all those who work hard. They represent the
‘Yog’ (meditation) and therefore the State Government has
started the mission of recognizing and appreciating labourers
with the title of ‘Shramyogi’.

There is a plan called ‘Shramyogi’ in Gujarat. Every village
has at least five families who could be called, ‘Daridra
Narayan’.1 We intend to support them and enable them to rise
above the poverty line. We cannot help them by just throwing
food at them, but we can certainly give them opportunities to
earn their own living. Our attempt is to make them self-
dependent so that they can live their lives with self-respect. We
should develop more such plans in our society. We helped these
five families by providing them with some vegetable and fruit
plants and asked them to grow these plants, sell the vegetables/
fruits. We urged them to educate their children with the money
that they earned so. We also explained to them the importance
of family planning. We managed to make them active in the
Gram Sabha. Now they have faith in life, in society. They are
not marginalized untouchables. Gradually, they will gain
confidence in themselves and in the society as they start mixing
with other people. It is an attempt to connect the lowly, the
marginalized with the mainstream society.

Gujarat is the first state that has taken responsibility for
the life insurance of labourers in the non-organized sector. The
state pays their insurance premium. The government has given
` 1,00,000 to the families of all those labourers, farm workers,
and non-organized workers who have lost their only earning

1. Daridra Narayan is a term used for the poorest in the village. The
term is basically a name of Lord Krishna (He being the God of the
poor). By using this term for the poorest, there is an attempt to give
respect to them despite their poverty.