BJP asks workers to give welfare schemes as Rakhi gift

The BJP National President Amit Shah on Sunday asked party workers to gift social security schemes to “sisters” on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

Shah’s call of reaching out to women on Raksha Bandhan day, which falls on August 29 this year, came at a day-long meeting of  BJP South Zone district presidents, office-bearers and legislators at the Palace Grounds in Bengaluru on Sunday. The move is a part of the party’s contact programme with the recently enrolled members.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, BJP National General Secretary and in charge of party affairs in Karnataka, P Muralidhar Rao said that Shah wanted the  party workers to launch a movement to ensure women in the country were covered by social security schemes launched by the Centre. “The workers will identify sisters and enrol them under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (accident insurance) or Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana (life insurance) as a gift on Raksha Bandhan day,” Rao said.

Under the accident insurance scheme, a person will be provided insurance cover of Rs two lakh for an annual premium of Rs 12. The life insurance scheme  offers a renewable one-year life cover of Rs two lakh to  savings bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 50 years, covering death due to any reason, for a premium of Rs 330 per annum per subscriber.

“The party cadre should not just be an electioneering machinery but should become a vehicle for transformation”, Rao said and added that party workers will also play an active role in Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, eradication of manual scavenging and Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save Girl Child, Educate Girl Child) scheme that aims to create awareness and improving the efficiency of welfare services meant for women.

Rao said party workers will fan out in a door-to-door mass contact programme in which they will meet newly enrolled members to build personal rapport. As many as 85 lakh enrolled members will be covered in Karnataka, he said.

Extensive training programmes for party workers would also be organised from the state level to the booth level, Rao said. The meeting also discussed measures to consolidate the party’s position in South India. It was decided that all districts in the region would have own party office by 2016.

Around 800 delegates from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Puducherry and Lakshwadeep took part in the meeting. Shah held separate meetings with the core committees of Tamil Nadu and Kerala which will face Assembly polls in 2016. Zonal meeting of other regions will be held later this week.

In a citizen connect initiative, a mobile-based application “Namma Bellad” that proposes to bridge the gap between people and their elected representatives was launched on Sunday. Citizens can send their grievances, suggestions and photos to Bellad using the app to seek redressal. The app can be used on Android and ios platforms.