Good news for Sreejith Rajan – a parcel employee at the Shoranur railway station! This railway employee from Shoranur has won the Rs 1 crore ‘Karunya’ lottery, Mathrubhumi reported today. While on duty, Sreejith Rajan got to know that his lottery ticket has clinched the first prize. His ticket number is _J 401659.
For those who are not aware, lotteries enjoy quite a fan following with the masses in Kerala and is part of the ordinary, aspirational Malayali’s quest for a better and more financially secure life. However, the sale of lotteries in Kerala has not always been smooth. Way too often, controversies have hampered it due to frequent instances of fraud – which is how it paved the way for the Karunya lottery scheme later on.
A quick recap on Kerala government’s Karunya lottery – which was begun with an objective to generate money which in turn will be used to treat the poor. The proposal was that poor patients suffering from serious illnesses such as kidney ailments, cancer, and heart diseases would be given financial assistance from the revenue generated through the Karunya lottery scheme.
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The Karunya lottery scheme was launched by the UDF-led government in 2011 and the concept was first presented by the state’s then Finance Minister KM Mani. At the time, this initiative was widely reported as the first instance in India where the revenue that is earned from a lottery scheme would be used for a noble cause such as philanthropy.
Given the cause that the Karunya Lottery scheme is associated with, celebrities and film stars endorsed its promos and lottery awareness campaigns. Leading actors have appeared in frequent TV advertisements which invited Malayalis to show “karunyam” (meaning: compassion) and buy lottery tickets that would help pay for the medical expenses of the poor and the needy.
