Kanku Bai Kalbelia, a 72-year-old widow of late Shri Rupa Kalbelia, is a permanent resident of Udaipur (Dhikali, Panchayat Badgaon). She belongs to the Kalbelia community, a semi-nomadic caste known for its traditional lifestyle. Currently, Kanku Bai resides at Chamunda Mata Mandir, Pratap Nagar, with her son, Kishan Kalbelia. Other family members live separately, leaving her to struggle with financial difficulties.

Kanku Bai Kalbelia, life had always been a struggle, but nothing prepared her for what she discovered one fateful day—she was officially dead.

A widow, a survivor, and a fighter, Kanku Bai had been living in Chamunda Mata Mandir, Pratap Nagar, with her son, Kishan Kalbelia. With no stable income, they survived by collecting and selling garbage, earning barely ₹100-₹200 a day. Their survival was heavily dependent on her widow’s pension, but when it suddenly stopped, she was left in complete financial distress.

For months, she and her son went from one government office to another, trying to figure out why the pension had stopped. Then, in February 2025, a shocking truth surfaced—her own Gram Panchayat had declared her dead on June 23, 2023!

How does a living, breathing person prove she is alive?

This is where FINILOOP stepped in to bring a ‘dead’ woman back to life.

When Samta Singh, a community mobilizer from the Trust of People’s FINILOOP program, met Kanku Bai in December 2024, she saw more than just an elderly woman struggling to survive—she saw a case of bureaucratic neglect at its worst.

Determined to help, Samta Singh took on the challenge of proving that Kanku Bai was alive. She accompanied her to the Pension Department at the Collectorate on February 10, 2025, where they uncovered the truth about her pension being stopped due to the false death declaration.

Samta Singh immediately contacted the Gram Panchayat Samiti of Bar village on February 20, 2025. The fight wasn’t easy—convincing government officials to overturn an official record required persistence, verification, and multiple rounds of paperwork.

But after weeks of struggle, FINILOOP made the impossible happen—Kanku Bai was officially declared ALIVE again, and her widow’s pension was reinstated!

Her pension for 11 months (April 2024 to February 2025) was approved, totaling ₹12,650. The government would take 2-3 months to deposit the funds into her account, but for Kanku Bai, this was a moment of victory.

She had fought death on paper and won. From the ‘Living Dead’ to a Leader, the Birth of Janalakshmi Self-Help Group

But FINILOOP didn’t stop at resurrecting Kanku Bai—it gave her and other women a new financial future. After seeing the success of her pension reinstatement, Kanku Bai and other women in her community became inspired to take charge of their financial security. With the guidance of Samta Singh, they formed a Self-Help Group (SHG) named ‘Janalakshmi’ on March 12, 2025.

This group became a lifeline for struggling women:

• 11 women joined, each contributing ₹100 per month.
• The goal? To help one another in times of need and build a savings habit.
• Over time, they planned to increase contributions to ₹200 per member and eventually register with the government to access low-interest loans from banks.

Their first act of solidarity? Helping another struggling widow, Sita Nath. On the occasion of Holi, Janalakshmi SHG unanimously decided to provide ₹1,100 to Sita Nath, who had been facing financial difficulties. She would repay this amount in small installments over 11 months. For the first time, these women weren’t just surviving—they were thriving together.

A Future Built on Resilience

Now, Janalakshmi SHG is on its way to official registration under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM). Once registered, they will be able to open a bank account, deposit their savings, and access government financial programs.

For women like Kanku Bai, this isn’t just about money—it’s about dignity. From being wrongly declared dead to leading a self-help group, Kanku Bai Kalbelia’s story is proof that when communities unite, they can rewrite even the most unjust narratives.

Through FINILOOP’s intervention, she was not only revived on government records but was also reborn as a symbol of resilience for other women. Because sometimes, bringing the ‘dead’ back to life isn’t about miracles—it’s about justice.