With Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday formally launching registration for Gruha Lakshmi, the Congress government’s third pre-poll guarantee scheme, women beneficiaries can start registering to avail of the monthly direct benefit transfer (DBT) of ₹2,000 in the State. As many as 1.28 crore families are set to benefit through this scheme.
Speaking after launching the scheme, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asserted that the Congress was for the empowerment of women in all fields and that women should get reservation in the Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha. “The Central government has the opportunity to provide this facility. If they take a bold step to give accord to the women’s reservation Bill, we will extend our full support,” he said.
Giving away sanction letters to three beneficiaries — Anandi Lingaiah, Suma S. Prabhakar, and Satya B. — symbolically, the Chief Minister said although the Opposition BJP was sceptical of the five guarantees, the Congress government had rolled out three guarantees within two months of coming to power. The DBT of ₹2,000 under the Gruha Lakshmi would from August 16, he said.
“The Opposition was under the assumption that we would not be able to deliver on promises. They say the State will go bankrupt, but we will show them that we will not go back on our word,” the Chief Minister said.
‘Other States under pressure’
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said implementation of this scheme in the State was pressuring other States to emulate Karnataka. “West Bengal and Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers who were here for the Opposition meet lauded the scheme and said they were under pressure now to start a similar programme in their States,” he said.
Laxmi Hebbalkar, Minister of Women and Child Development, Welfare of Persons with Disabilities and Senior Citizens, said, “This is a meaningful programme to empower women. Significantly, we are launching the programme on the bank nationalisation day that is observed on July 19,” she said.
Stating that registration is free under the scheme, the Minister added that any queries regarding the scheme could be clarified on the helpline (1902) or by sending an SMS or WhatsApp message to 8147500500.
Under Gruha Lakshmi, the woman head of a family, as mentioned in the ration card (BPL, APL, and Antyodaya cards), will be the eligible beneficiary. However, she or her husband should not be a taxpayer (income tax or GST payee), the Chief Minister said.
