Gandhi in Babita’s home

At Babita’s home, a question once posed by Gandhi looms large: How is the state present in the life of the weakest citizen?

In a dilapidated house in Rajbiraj, Babita Paswan has returned. A few days earlier, she had given birth to her child not in a hospital, but on the pavement outside it. The hospital was right there. But she did not have the money demanded for the blood test. The night caved in, and a few hours later she delivered the baby by the roadside. Babita has now come home. Her house is small, but the question this incident raises are large. In a democracy, some events are not merely news, they become a test of the system. Babita’s delivery is one such event.