Opinion | Gandhi in Babita’s home
Summary
Babita Paswan returned home in Rajbiraj after giving birth on a hospital pavement when she could not afford a blood test, turning her ordeal into a critique of state failure and unequal access to public services. The opinion piece uses Gandhi’s ideas to question whether rights in law are actually available to the poorest citizens in life.
Key Points
- Babita Paswan gave birth to her child on the pavement outside a hospital in Rajbiraj after she could not pay for a blood test.
- The article uses Gandhi’s idea of the “last person” to argue that legal rights mean little without real access to public services.
- It links Babita’s case to broader questions about poverty, exclusion, democracy and the state’s responsibility to the weakest citizens.
- The piece also connects development and recent Himalayan floods to the distribution of risk and the burden placed on marginalized communities.
