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Dignified Beginning and Dismal End

December 24, 2008

Gulo Kokhodze, Akhaltsikhe

A resolution of the Government of Georgia dated December 3 stipulated that the governmental program for assisting infants from socially excluded families has been abolished. The program covered those families that were listed in the unified database of socially excluded families and had poverty scores of 100 000 points or less. 

“A family that is registered in the unified database of socially excluded families and that had 100 000 or less points when a child was born into the family, or for the first 6 months of the infant’s life, will no longer be afforded social assistance,” is said in the resolution # 234 dating December 3, 2008.

A total of 1,083 families are registered in the unified database of socially excluded families in Municipality of Akhaltsikhe. “The number of the families changes every day, as even with this, we still are only able to help only some of them,” said Dato Murjikneli, the main specialist of the Akhaltsikhe Department of the Agency of Social Subsidies.

Dato Murjikneli said that 283 infants have been assisted within the framework of the state program since January 2008 up to present time. Each family received 1,000 GEL for each infant: “triplets were born in village Ghreli in one family and we provided the family with assistance of 3,000 GEL.”

Socially excluded families do not know yet that this state program has been abolished. This is the very same program that the president of Georgia touted during the pre-election period a dignified beginning.

“My third child will be born in the middle of April. I thought I would feed the infant with this money at least for a while,” said Neli Modebadze, 34 the inhabitant of village Uraveli.

The family of Modebadzes consists of seven members and their only income is agriculture. “The government had a pre election slogan: action instead of speaking. Is this their action?! An infant needs many things, we have only two cows and even if I sell those cows the money I will receive will not be enough for feeding the infant,” said Neli Modebadze.

Nunu Dugarova, 20, found out that the state program on infant assistance was taken away from us.

“I am six month pregnant. There are four family members in the family. Only my mother-in-law is working and she receives a mere 100 GEL a month as a salary. The family totally relies on this meager amount of money. I do not know how we will save money,” said the expecting mother.

Janeta Lobjanidze, nurse from Women’s Consolation assumes that abolishment of this state program will decrease the Georgian birth rate: “Many women told me that they are having babies and were only expected to depend on this 1000 GEL.” 

The Akhaltsikhe Department of the Agency of Social Subsidies considers that this money was a kind of a stimulus for poor families to have children.

“They do not have money to buy bread let alone dippers. This kind of programs showed the socially excluded families that the state was supporting them,” said Dato Murjikneli.

However, representatives of Akhaltsikhe district administration do not think so.

“No one will deliver a child only for the sake of money, which would be absurd. Probably this program was abolished because of the financial problems that resulted in the aftermath of the August Georigan-Russian war,” said Ruben Karapetyan, Deputy Governor of Akhatsikhe District.

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