Jasveer Singh from Delhi’s Mangolpuri had a small business of filling quilts. His business was meandering along. Jasveer has a daughter, who studies in Class 10, apart from three sons. He earned just about enough to fund his daughter’s studies and sustain the family.
However, he would soon be driven to the verge of disaster. The advent of trendy blankets pushed quilts more and more towards extinction and Jasveer’s business started floundering. He was already copping losses when the lockdown imposed in March last year sounded a death knell.
Jasveer suddenly found himself neck-deep in a sea of debt with the shore nowhere to be seen. He had no option but to sell all he had.
Jasveer’s lower-middle-class family used to stay in a small rented apartment. With no work in hand, Jasveer could not figure out how he would be able to pay his house rent. Soon, he and his family would be thrown out to the streets, Jasveer feared.
Jasveer was desperate to find an alternative source of income and decided to drive a rented e-rickshaw. He had just begun to set his life back in order when the second wave of Covid struck and totally put paid to Jasveer’s hopes of a turnaround. The e-rickshaw could not fetch any money and Jasveer could not pay the owners their everyday share. As a result, soon the owners took the vehicle back.
Devastated, Jasveer approached us. He sought our help to buy an e-rickshaw. Owing a vehicle would mean that he would not have to worry about paying rent and being hounded by owners if he failed to do so.
Sewa Nyaya Utthan Foundation was only too happy to help. On July 7, we were able to give Jasveer the battery-run rickshaw that he so badly needed. The battery-run rickshaw cost Rs 1.3 lakh. Jasveer got a huge lifeline.
He shared his happiness with our team member, Vishal Gautam, who personally oversaw paperwork to get him a licence from the transport department as well as the process of purchasing the vehicle. “While I was returning home in my new e-rickshaw, my family members waited outside. They were extremely happy. It feels like someone has fed a morsel to the hungry.”
Inspired by our selfless service, Jasveer has promised to give free sewa to at least one needy commuter every day. He says he would carry forward this ‘sewa-bhava’ (service-mindedness) and help people in need. His struggles have evidently been an eye-opener for him and he now wants to ensure that nobody has to endure the kind of ordeal that he has.
We at Sewa Nyaya Utthan Foundation always try to ensure that an individual gets the help he needs and becomes self-sufficient too. We wish Jasveer luck and pray to God for his success.