The much talked about subsidised ?atta daal? scheme for the poor was rolled out in Punjab on the 60th Independence Day on Wednesday with chief minister Parkash Singh Badal formally launching it from Ludhiana.
The scheme will provide wheat at Rs 4 per kg and pulses at Rs 20 per kg to over 13 lakh below poverty line (BPL) families in the state. The government has also relaxed the criterion for the BPL qualification and raised the bar to Rs 30,000 per annum from the existing Rs 12,500 per annum, doubling the number of beneficiaries. Under the scheme, each BPL family would get 7 kg wheat and 1 kg pulse up to a maximum of 7 kg and 4 kg per family, respectively.
Besides, the chief minister also announced to give ownership rights to farmers engaged in cultivation of around 42,000 acres along river beds in the state at a nominal rate.
In a statement in Chandigarh on the Independence Day eve on Tuesday, Badal said his government fully recognised the magnitude of poverty and would launch a full-scale campaign against it through a multi-pronged effort to remove unemployment in the state.