Bhagyalakshmi in the lurch over funds crunch

2.82 lakh girl children yet to receive the bonds in Bagalkot

As many as 2.82 lakh beneficiaries have not yet got their Bhagyalakshmi bonds.
The Bhagyalakshmi scheme was started as an attempt to create a feeling among parents that girl children are an asset and to prevent evil practices like female foeticide and trafficking of girls. Only 8.95 lakh bonds have been distributed so far.

The Department of Women and Child Development requires Rs 500 crore to distribute the remaining 2.82 lakh bonds. But the department has only Rs 236 crore.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had announced that Rs 400 crore would be reserved in the budget for the project. With the funds not being released so far, the project is in the doldrums. There is also confusion about the criteria adopted for the selection of the beneficiaries. So far, it had been decided to distribute the bonds only to girls in BPL families and the girls in families whose annual income is between Rs 12,000 and Rs 17,000 in rural and urban areas respectively. The government’s decision to modify the criteria has also resulted in a delay, Shamla Iqbal, Director of the Department of Women and Child Development told Deccan Herald.  

Under the programme, the government had said Rs 20,000 would be remitted to the insurance company per beneficiary. But only Rs 19,350 and Rs 18,350 is being remitted in the name of the first and second girl child of a family respectively.

The beneficiary child gets Rs one lakh after 18 years. If the girl drops out of school before class VIII, she ceases to be a beneficiary of the Bhagyalakshmi programme.

Bonds in a month: Minister

C C Patil, Minister for Women and Child Development, has promised that Bhagyalakshmi bonds will be distributed to the 2.82 lakh beneficiaries by the end of this month.

He told a press conference in Bagalkot that he would hold discussions with Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa with regard to the confusions over the distribution of bonds.

The distribution of Bhagyalakshmi bonds had been delayed due to a technical glitch and not due to the shortage of funds, the minister said.

An amount of Rs 638 crore had been earmarked for the programme, Patil said. Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards had been made mandatory for girl children born after January 1, 2011, to avail benefits of the Bhagyalakshmi scheme.

Earlier, the bonds were being given to all girl children, Patil said.