Tamil Nadu expands monthly assistance scheme to women; adds 7 lakh beneficiaries

Chennai: Tamil Nadu on Friday expanded the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam (Rs 1,000 monthly assistance to women heads of families) by inducting another 7.35 lakh women into the program which is dubbed one of the biggest Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes.

With this, the number of beneficiaries who will receive Rs 1,000 every month has gone up to 1.13 crore – the scheme benefitted 1.06 crore women when it was launched on September 15 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of DMK founder and former Chief Minister C N Annadurai.

Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is recovering from a flu, made his first public appearance in over a week on Friday by distributing ATM cards to a couple of new beneficiaries. During his speech, Stalin said the number of people who receive their “rightful money” every month might increase from December when the government will decide on appeals filed by women whose applications to enroll on the scheme were rejected.

Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam, a key pre-poll promise, is the third scheme that the two-and-a-half-year-old DMK dispensation has launched exclusively for the state’s women population. Free bus travel to women in town buses, and Rs 1,000 per month to girl students who studied from 6th to 12th standard in government schools till they complete their UG, diploma and ITI courses, are the other two schemes.

“A scheme’s success depends on continuous monitoring. We rechecked the applications that were not considered at the special camps and those that were left out by deputing 54,220 officers. They gave a list from which 7.35 lakh women have been freshly inducted into the scheme,” Stalin said.

Contending that the government is keen that no eligible beneficiary should be left out of the scheme, Stalin said messages were sent to every person whose application was rejected detailing the reason for not including them in the program. The government also gave an opportunity to these people to appeal against the decision.

“We are processing these applications as well. Field officers are looking into these applications and the eligible among them will receive the money from December,” the Chief Minister added. He also claimed that the scheme was being implemented without any complaints from the people.

The scheme came under criticism from the opposition parties who criticised the eligibility criteria announced by the government. While the DMK manifesto said all women heads of families will get assistance of Rs 1,000 per month, the party, after coming to power, said it will be a “targeted scheme.”

However, Stalin said, people have accepted the norms imposed by the government saying only 1.63 crore out of 2.24 crore ration card holders applied for the scheme. “The people’s understanding justified the eligibility criteria of the government. Those who criticized the scheme are now silent,” Stalin added.