Banki: In a state that proudly advertises its welfare schemes, a forgotten elderly man sleeps each night in the shadows of an abandoned government school toilet in Banki block of Cuttack district in Odisha .

For the last three years, 65-year-old Murali Samal, a resident of Bili Tentulia village of Banki block, has been living inside this crumbling structure.

Though he is well past 65 years of age, he claims that he has not been receiving any form of government assistance—neither pension nor subsidized rations. His survival depends almost entirely on the mid-day meal provided by the local school. And on days when the school is closed, he either goes hungry or survives on the kindness of villagers who occasionally offer him a little food.

Sources said Murali was born in this very vi

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