Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced on Wednesday that the ‘Gruha Lakshmi scheme’, under which women heads of families receive Rs 2,000 each month, will be replicated across the country. He termed the scheme as “the world’s largest cash transfer scheme” whereby Rs 2,000 will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of the millions of women beneficiaries.
Speaking at the event in Mysuru, Gandhi said, “Our five schemes in Karnataka are not just schemes, but a governance model. Our thinking is that the government should work for the poor and weak, and no one should be left behind irrespective of religion, caste or the language they speak. What we did for women in Karnataka, we are going to replicate it across the country. And Karnataka is showing the way for the country,” he said.
The party said that the scheme will benefit 1.1 crore women who are heads of their households.
AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge, who launched the scheme, was present along with party MP Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar at the public function held on Maharaja College grounds.
The Congress had made a poll promise to implement five ‘guarantees’, namely ‘Shakti’, ‘Gruha Jyothi’, ‘Annabhagya’, ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ and ‘Yuva Nidhi’.
Gandhi said Shakti offers free travel for women in government buses anywhere in Karnataka, while ‘Gruha Jyoti’ provides 200 units of electricity free of cost per month. The ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme offers 10 kg rice while ‘Yuva Nidhi’ (Youth Fund) promises to give Rs 3,000 and Rs 1,500 a month to unemployed graduates and diploma holders, respectively, who fail to get a job even after six months of clearing their exams in the 2022-23 academic year.
“Barring the ‘Yuva Nidhi’ scheme, the four guarantees (Shakti, Gruha Lakshmi, Gruha Jyothi and Anna Bhagya) are meant for women of the state. There is a deep thinking behind these four guarantees,” Gandhi explained.
Kharge said no government in India has ever launched such a scheme and everyone is keen to implement it in their state.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said earlier that the government has already implemented three of the five ‘guarantees’ (pre-poll promises) — ‘Shakti’, ‘Gruha Jyothi’ and ‘Annabhagya’ — and noted that ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ is the fourth one. The government has earmarked Rs 17,500 crore for the ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ programme in the current financial year, he had added.
The CM, at today’s function, recalled the apprehensions aired by Opposition parties after the guarantees were announced during the May elections. “(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi said in Rajasthan that Karnataka would go bankrupt if we implemented the schemes. Today, we have fulfilled four guarantees. By December or January we will implement Yuva Nidhi also. But the state government has not gone bankrupt. None of the regular schemes were stopped. We implemented the schemes despite allocating funds to all departments and programmes,” he said, as quoted by The Indian Express.