On a pension of ₹500, a tribal woman from Chhattisgarh walks with her 90-year-old mother-in-law on her back; video went viral

A video showing a tribal woman carrying her 90-year-old mother-in-law on her back went viral on social media this week. Reports claimed that the woman had walked nearly 3 km to collect her mother-in-law’s monthly magazine ₹500 pension from the bank.

The video, which was widely shared on social media, said it “exposed the mess in the government system” and “highlighted the huge gap between government schemes and the ground reality”.

INC Chhattisgarh was among the social media users who shared the video on X. The caption of the clip read: “Public’s cluelessness and BJP government’s insensitivity!!!”

“A 90-year-old elderly tribal woman has to be taken 9 kilometers to the bank every month for pension verification, while on the other hand, the Union Home Minister and the state government never tire of grandiose speeches about tribal welfare from public platforms,” X’s post read.

what exactly happened

The incident took place in Chhattisgarh’s Mainpat development block on Friday, news agency PTI reported.

In the video, a woman, identified as Sukhmaniya, who is in her mid-50s, is seen walking along the road with her elderly mother-in-law on her back.

She told the person making the video that earlier “Mitra bank” used to pay monthly pension ₹500 at her home but she was not getting her pension for the last three to four months as the KYC process was not completed.

Sukhmaniya, a resident of Jangalpara village in Kunia district, traveled about 3 km to reach the Central Bank of India branch in Mainpat town.

Mainpat Janpad Panchayat CEO Khushboo Shastri said on Sunday that Bank Mitra used to visit the woman’s house every month to deliver the pension amount.

“In January, her pension was delivered to her home for the last time. The service has been stopped for the last four months due to pending KYC formalities,” PTI quoted her as saying.

what happened after that

On May 22, Sukhmaniya arrived at the bank branch with her mother-in-law on her back without informing anyone.

After the KYC formalities were completed at the branch, the bank immediately released the pending pension amount ₹2,000 for four months, Shastri said.

The official said the Central Bank of India branch in Mainpat has seven Bank Mitras to deliver pension money to beneficiaries who cannot visit the bank.

“From next month, Sukhmaniya’s mother-in-law will again receive pension in her house,” she added.