Women wait in queues at a bank to apply for the Karnataka government's Gruha Lakshmi scheme, in Chikmagalur, Karnataka.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: The benefits of the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme were disbursed to most of the gender minorities in Karnataka on December 11.
The Movement for Gender and Sexual Pluralism, a gender and sexual minorities advocacy group, welcomed this move in a statement. Initially, the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme was only applicable to the common female head of each family and was not available to most of the gender minorities due to a lack of ration cards.
“As a result of the struggle of many organisations including us, the Department of Women and Child Welfare issued an order in June that gender minorities can apply through Transgender (TG) ID cards,” the statement read. The community, subsequently, applied across Karnataka in July.
“Even though there was a delay of four months, the money deposited on December 11 will benefit the poor in many ways,” they said in the statement.