Bhagyalakshmi, 42, is a widow whose husband died of tuberculosis ten years ago. Neither her son Raju, 25, who cleans buses, nor her daughter, Shijumon, 22, went beyond 10th Standard at school due to lack of funds. Before she took a loan she worked for daily wages in the paddy fields. Three of them were living on Rps 50 ($1.10) a day. She had to sell a cow and enlist the help of her sister to pay for Shijumon’s marriage.

Now after three loans, Bhagyalakshmi has two milch animals and wants to buy another good yielding one. She must keep breeding the cows for good milk flow, but when a cow is pregnant, it gives less milk. She and her son still live in one room of extremely basic communal quarters.