Beed: On World Literacy Day, this was the news emerging from the so-called progressive state of Maharashtra. The Kharats of Beed are very poor, living in a temporary shelter in Kesapuri, Beed.
Devidas Kharat and his wife Lankabai (38) are now on their way to becoming parents for the 21st time. Lankabai is eight months pregnant and is mother to nine daughters and two sons. Nine of her other children died immediately after birth.
The minute the health department learnt of the news, they were shocked and they moved Lankabai to a government hospital. This will be the first delivery in a hospital for Lankabai.
In the areas of Latur and Mazalgaon, women on average have 10-12 children. However, villagers of Kesapuri mostly belong to the Gopal community and travel from village to village, begging.
There are many women in this community, who, on average, have 15-20 children and most survive.
The question of naming their children arises, which results in children being called names like ‘bhaaji’, ‘bhaakri’, ‘gaanja’, ‘daaru’, ‘goli’, ‘banduk’, ‘supari’ and so on.
