A member of the local self-help group, Balaji Swayam Sahayaka Sangham for five years, 66 year- old- Seethamma goes for work at will. Earlier, she went to work due to compulsion as there was no contingency plan in the event of any work. The pooled up experience in the self-help group has made her doubly wise over the period. She availed the successive loan facility from the group totaling Rs. 1.50 lakh. Repayment of loan was as prompt and regular just like her keenness for taking a loan. Thus, she stands as a role model for others in the village. She was already in her early 60s when the Government insurance scheme, ANNA Abhayahastam was announced. She realized the importance of sustaining herself during her old age. She took to the scheme like a fish to water and joined the scheme by paying the entire amount of Rs. 3700 (inclusive of all) that equals a ten-year insurance payment under the newly announced scheme. At the time of payment, Dasari Seethamma knew what was in store for her. Her expectation was more than realized and justified. She started receiving the old age pension of Rs. 500 from the very next month of enrolment. It is already one year that she has been in the habit of enjoying the facility extended by the Andhra Pradesh Government for the poor and landless members of SHG groups in the state. Presenting her perspective on the scheme, Dasari Seethamma says: “I may be illiterate in strict academic terms, but I am not so in social terms. The SHG gave me adequate and sound knowledge on social security and economic contingencies that one has to keep in view while struggling with routine aspects of livelihood. I think the Government’s new insurance scheme was in perfect tune with this popular thinking at the grassroots level. We, the members of the group, felt immensely happy and are highly thankful to the person or government for gauging this popular mood and formulating a scheme that could address problems of the aged. This is something we longed for.” The break-up of expenditure, as she narrates, is quite interesting. She spends Rs. 250 on rice, cooking oil, sugar and pulses purchased under the Public Distribution System (PDS). She is now left with a surplus of Rs. 250 and she uses this amount for purchase of vegetables, other groceries and medicines. “I am leading a tension-free life,” she declares. Having enjoyed the benefit of the scheme, she encouraged (rather used amenable personal force) in motivating two of her friends in the locality to avail the new facility. In fact, she extended interest-free hand loan to her friends to pay for the insurance scheme. “Those two friends of mine today treat me as an angel,” Dasari Seethamma says with gleam in her eyes. Commenting on the outcome of the scheme, she minces no words when she says: “I was dependent earlier. ANNA Abhayahastham scheme made me independent today.”