Disabled tribal girl crawls for firewood in Singrauli; Video goes viral
Singrauli: A video showing an 11-year-old tribal girl crawling on her knees while carrying firewood on her head from Singrauli district has drawn widespread attention on social media, prompting administrative action.
The girl, Dil Kumari Baiga, is disabled in both legs since birth and cannot walk. She studies in Class 3 and lives with her maternal grandparents, Ram Brij Baiga and Sonmati Baiga, in Barahpan village near the Chhattisgarh border. Her mother, Urmila Baiga, has four children, and due to Dil Kumari’s disability, her grandparents took responsibility for raising her.
Explaining the incident, her grandfather said the family had never asked the child to collect firewood. He said she went on her own, believing her grandparents needed warmth during the cold. He became emotional while speaking about the video.
The grandfather also stated that he had repeatedly approached the sarpanch and local representatives for help and sought assistance at the panchayat level, but no concrete support was provided. The family continues to live in poverty while the child struggles with her disability and studies.
After the issue was highlighted by Dainik Bhaskar, the administration stepped in. The girl and her family were called to the district headquarters, where the Red Cross Society provided her with a tricycle to assist with mobility.
Additional CEO of the District Panchayat, IB Damor, said the girl’s health check-up is underway and arrangements are being made for treatment and possible surgery. He added that all eligible benefits under government schemes would be provided to Dil Kumari.
Following the video going viral, Congress leaders also visited the village. Leader Surya Dwivedi said sharing the video was not enough and that action was necessary. He assured that if government help is delayed, assistance would be provided at a personal level.
"Disabled tribal girl's miserable life." 💔
— Suraj Kumar Bauddh (@SurajKrBauddh) January 19, 2026
"The heartbreaking lives of tribals in India."🇮🇳
"She doesn't even have proper clothes." 😢
Dil Kumari, from MP's Singrauli, gathers firewood for her grandparents to fight the cold, barefoot and poorly clothed. Painful. pic.twitter.com/CIO9MkvHD0
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
