Labourer-Turned-Painter Gets Padma Shri At 84, Awaits Concrete House: "I Was Promised"
NDTV
Jodhaiya Bai from Madhya Pradesh is a prominent tribal mural painter, who spent five over decades as labourer before getting a big break as an artist
At the age of 84, labourer-turned-painter Jodhaiya Bai 'Amma' got the Padma Shri this year, but her wait for a pucca house continues despite, she claims, a promise by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“With folded hands, I request to both PM Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan to give me a pucca house," said the Baiga Art mural painter, who lives in a mud-and-asbestos home in Lorha village of Madhya Pradesh's Umaria district.
She said the house was promised to her 10 months ago when she was honoured with the Nari Shakti Puraskar in Delhi. “I hugged Modi-ji and shared my pain about not having a pucca house, after which he promised that I will get one," she said.
"I have since visited government offices in Umaria and also in state capital Bhopal, but that has not worked," added the artist, who is among 91 personalities this year selected for Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour..
