20-yrs-long social service, Thrissur couple turns epitome of humanity

Kodungallur: “In this small life we only need a little. The rest is the right of others. We are finding the most deserved and sharing a part of our income with them,” contently says Thrissur couple Shinod and Bindhu. They are in the noble pursuit of ensuring the social security of poor families with their own hard-earned money for 20 years.

Shinod who took voluntary retirement from LIC as an assistant administrative officer and Bindhu who is working at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan with their respective pension and salary are giving hope for many. The couple has been donating a major portion of their monthly income to poor families just like a social welfare pension. Not just that. Their house is a place where many citizen assistance services are offered to the public without charging a single penny from them.

The financial aid like social welfare pension is being distributed on all first Saturdays. The distribution will start at 8:30 AM at various centres. 

The couple initially started by allocating Rs 69,000 in a month. An amount of Rs 300 to Rs 2,000 was given to each family. As the economic status of beneficiaries improved, more families were identified and more money was allocated. When salary arrears of Rs 3 lakh was available in 2008, the entire amount was allocated.

Notably, the duo ensures that only deserving hands are receiving the money. There are guidelines to identify the eligible families and inputs of ASHA workers are taken to ascertain the deserved ones. One of the guidelines is that families of drunkards are not eligible.

The couple presently stays at a house near Lokamaeshwaram in Kodungallur. Harikrishna and Manukrishna are their sons. The elder one works at a network company in Bengaluru, while the younger one is a student at Thiruvananthapuram Engineering College.