Bengaluru: Minister of Women and Child Development Lakshmi HebbalkarWho will oversee the implementation of the Griha Lakshmi scheme, through which the government will provide cash assistance of Rs 2,000 per month to women heads of household, said the welfare scheme will go a long way towards empowering women, but it will indirectly Men will definitely benefit. Very. Excerpts from the interview:
Your party had promised to implement all the five guarantee schemes in the first cabinet meeting. Do you think your department missed out?
No, in the first cabinet meeting the members gave in-principle approval to the plans. Only after this the implementation started. Launching Griha Lakshmi involved immense preparation, including developing an app. We had to take care of the smallest details to ensure that the aid reaches the intended beneficiaries. We also had to estimate the financial requirement and ensure adequate allocation. Our estimate suggests that we need about Rs 33,000 crore annually and Rs 26,000 crore for the current financial year. Preparations are now in the final stage. We are arranging the registration for the applicants in Karnataka Forest. gram one and Bangalore Forest Center Also Bapuji Seva Kendra, We will also appoint two Praja Pratinidhis – citizen volunteers – in every village with 1,000 inhabitants. They will go door to door and help the beneficiaries get registered.
This scheme is for the female head of the family. How do you decide who is in charge?
The beneficiaries include around 1.3 crore BPL and APL cardholders. About 98% of these cards show women as the head of the household. This has helped us to identify most of the beneficiaries. The beneficiary or his/her spouse should not be an income tax payer. They should provide Aadhaar linked bank account. If they want the cash to be transferred to any other account, they will have to provide a copy of the passbook of that account.
There are reports that the government may stop its share of Rs 4,000 per farmer in this Kisan Samman Plan. Fund allocation for this scheme is not mentioned in the budget.
Our five guarantee schemes cover all sections of the society including farmers’ families. As far as the Kisan Samman Yojana is concerned, there has been no discussion of stopping the funds. The Chief Minister will take an appropriate call.
To put it mildly, the complaint is that the benefits of the five guarantee schemes go to women and men are ignored…
There is no gender difference. In fact, men would benefit more as they would not need to spend money on travel for female members of their families. They are set to get free electricity and cash in exchange for 5 kg of rice. This ensures a good amount in the pocket of men.
People like former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde have termed this guarantee as a bribe to the citizens…
This is his perception. In fact, as a Chief Minister, this is a policy of redistribution of resources among the poor. Siddaramaiah stated in the budget. Our government is committed to this policy.
A section of people believe that you have emerged as the Lingayat face of the Congress. Do you think so too?
I know my responsibility has increased. The Lingayat community strongly supported us in the assembly elections, due to which we got a huge majority. The challenge is to ensure that the community’s support for our party remains intact. I act as a bridge between the community and the government and I am confident that the community will continue to support us.
Your party had promised to implement all the five guarantee schemes in the first cabinet meeting. Do you think your department missed out?
No, in the first cabinet meeting the members gave in-principle approval to the plans. Only after this the implementation started. Launching Griha Lakshmi involved immense preparation, including developing an app. We had to take care of the smallest details to ensure that the aid reaches the intended beneficiaries. We also had to estimate the financial requirement and ensure adequate allocation. Our estimate suggests that we need about Rs 33,000 crore annually and Rs 26,000 crore for the current financial year. Preparations are now in the final stage. We are arranging the registration for the applicants in Karnataka Forest. gram one and Bangalore Forest Center Also Bapuji Seva Kendra, We will also appoint two Praja Pratinidhis – citizen volunteers – in every village with 1,000 inhabitants. They will go door to door and help the beneficiaries get registered.
This scheme is for the female head of the family. How do you decide who is in charge?
The beneficiaries include around 1.3 crore BPL and APL cardholders. About 98% of these cards show women as the head of the household. This has helped us to identify most of the beneficiaries. The beneficiary or his/her spouse should not be an income tax payer. They should provide Aadhaar linked bank account. If they want the cash to be transferred to any other account, they will have to provide a copy of the passbook of that account.
There are reports that the government may stop its share of Rs 4,000 per farmer in this Kisan Samman Plan. Fund allocation for this scheme is not mentioned in the budget.
Our five guarantee schemes cover all sections of the society including farmers’ families. As far as the Kisan Samman Yojana is concerned, there has been no discussion of stopping the funds. The Chief Minister will take an appropriate call.
To put it mildly, the complaint is that the benefits of the five guarantee schemes go to women and men are ignored…
There is no gender difference. In fact, men would benefit more as they would not need to spend money on travel for female members of their families. They are set to get free electricity and cash in exchange for 5 kg of rice. This ensures a good amount in the pocket of men.
People like former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde have termed this guarantee as a bribe to the citizens…
This is his perception. In fact, as a Chief Minister, this is a policy of redistribution of resources among the poor. Siddaramaiah stated in the budget. Our government is committed to this policy.
A section of people believe that you have emerged as the Lingayat face of the Congress. Do you think so too?
I know my responsibility has increased. The Lingayat community strongly supported us in the assembly elections, due to which we got a huge majority. The challenge is to ensure that the community’s support for our party remains intact. I act as a bridge between the community and the government and I am confident that the community will continue to support us.