An all-female group of Indian rubbish collectors earning £2 a day – a £1million first that changes their lives – in a lottery syndicate – but don’t promise to quit jobs!
- The 11 women from Kerala gathered and bought a 250 rupee ticket
A group of female rubbish collectors in India have won a life-changing £1 million after pooling their money to buy a lottery ticket.
The 11 women, who collect non-biodegradable waste from households in Parappanangad in Malappuram district, Kerala, and were struggling to make ends meet, bought the 250 rupee (£2.50) ticket last month.
This is the equivalent of a day’s wages, which they say is not enough to support them and their families, forcing them to borrow money and take out loans to finance their children’s education.
But the women have now told of their surprise when they discovered that they had become the lucky winners.
MP Radha, 49, said she was still in shock. ‘It’s unbelievable. We had to check with several people whether we had won and still we couldn’t believe it. We all come from very poor families with a lot of debt and liabilities,” she said, according to the Guardian.
11 women who work in a sanitary company in India and saved up money to buy a lottery ticket have hit the jackpot of 100 million rupees (£947,242). File image
“This is the fourth time we have bought a ticket at the bumper price. We are lucky the fourth time,” Ms. Radha, who occasionally buys a ticket for the group, told the BBC.
Before discovering the life-changing news, the group agreed to split the profits equally, however small. They also said they will not quit their sanitation jobs.
Two women put in 12.5 rupees each for their share of the ticket and the rest paid 25 rupees each.
The day after the winning draw, one of the women asked her husband to check the results.
Kuttimalu, 72, said: ‘We didn’t expect to win such a huge amount!’
Cherumannil Baby, another member of the group, lost her home to floods that devastated Kerala in 2018. The money has now given her the chance to rebuild her house.
The women collect non-biodegradable waste from households in Parappanangad in Malappuram district and earn 250 ruppes a day (£2.50). File image
Lakshmi, 49, whose construction worker husband struggles to find a job due to heavy rains, said they were worried about their financial future the night before the win. They are now relieved that they can spend the profit on their daughter’s education.
K Bindu, 50, found victory bittersweet when she lost her husband to kidney failure last year after the family couldn’t afford a transplant.
“He used to buy lottery tickets with the money we kept for dialysis,” she said. “He left us without finishing the construction of our house. I have to finish it now.’
Sheeja, the president of the group’s office, Haritha Karma Sena, said she was happy with the women.
“These are extremely hard-working people who go to great lengths to make ends meet,” she said. “It’s very surprising, but I’m very happy for them,” the Guardian reported.
The lottery is illegal in many Indian states, but Kerala runs its own lottery.
After taxes, the group receives 63 million rupees. Ms. Baby and Ms. Kuttimalu will each receive 3.15 million, while the other nine women will each receive 6.3 million.