“I am very scared of these OTPs. Saha aakde ani paisa gayab [six digits and the money's gone],” Anil Thombre tells me on a busy State Transport bus stand, over the noise of bus horns, hawkers selling their snacks and bottled water and arrival and departure announcements. Someone asked him for an OTP (one time password) and he asked me to help.
He has heard about the budget, the arth sankalpa , in his words. “On January 31, there was some news about it on the radio. The government announces some provisions for each department. I know about it. If not all, at least rupayat daha paise [ten paise in a rupee]!” he says, slicing a betelnut with an adkitta .
He, rather, his red and white stick, leads the way to the canteen as we look for a quieter place. Thombre is a person with visual disability. He is well versed with the platforms, the crowd, the canteen counters and also the steps. “I was just one month old when I had measles and completely lost my eyesight, I am told.”
Anil Thombre, a musician from Barul, thinks the budget should pay more attention to persons with disabilities
A resident of Barul, a village with a population of around 2,500, 20 kilometres from Tuljapur town, Thombre plays the tabla and pakhwaj for a bhajani mandal , a group singing and performing devotional songs. The money offered by the organisers adds to his monthly disability pension of Rs. 1,000. “It never comes on time,” he says. Moreover, he has to travel to Tuljapur to collect it from the bank. Recently, he has been allotted a house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and will soon start the work. “Even for that I need to get the first instalment in the bank account and for that I need that KYC done,” says 55-year-old Thombre.
Today, he is in Tuljapur to collect his clothes from the laundry, a service offered by his friend from Barul. “I am single and I do all the housework on my own. I cook and I fetch water from the tap. I am fed up with washing clothes, you know!” he says with a hearty laugh..
For Thombre, “the mai-baap sarkar should look after everyone. But if you ask me, those like us, the disabled, should get a little more attention in the budget.”
Thombre does not know that the 2025 Union Budget speech does not mention disability or divyangjan or persons with disability, even once.
