Rs 1,000 for eligible women heads of family from September 15: Tamil Nadu

Officials said the govt has formulated guidelines to identify the beneficiaries for the scheme after a detailed study of the socio-economic status of people in state

Fulfilling one of the key promises made during elections, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu on Monday announced that it will roll out the much-awaited scheme of providing Rs 1,000 as “rightful money” to women heads of “eligible households” from September 15, 2023, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dravidian stalwart C N Annadurai.

Terming it as the “biggest cash transfer schemes” to be implemented by any state government in India, Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said the monthly assistance to women is a continuation of the DMK’s various initiatives to promote quality of women, who form half of the state’s population.

He also utilized the opportunity to take a dig at the Union Government, saying the Rs 1,000 monthly assistance will help households who are suffering from increase in the price of LPG cylinders and inflation. The announcement was expected as the DMK came under criticism for not fulfilling some of its poll promises.

“I am very happy to announce that Rs 1,000 per month will be provided to women heads of eligible households from the upcoming financial year. Women heads of families who have been affected adversely by the steep increase in cooking gas price by the Union Government and the overall price rise will be greatly benefitted by the scheme,” Thiaga Rajan said.

Contending that September has a “special significance” to the Dravidian movement, Thiaga Rajan said the scheme will be launched by Chief Minister M K Stalin on September 15, 2023, while noted that it is being launched in the centenary year of late chief minister M Karunanidhi.

Opposition parties like AIADMK and BJP raised questions on why the DMK government was providing the Rs 1,000 monthly assistance only to “eligible households” and why not to everyone as promised in the election manifesto.

“The operational guidelines outlining the eligibility to avail the benefits under this scheme will be evolved and released soon. Rs 7,000 crore has been allotted in the Budget for this scheme which will be a game changer in the socio-economic life of women of the state,” the Finance Minister added.

Officials said the government has formulated guidelines to identify the beneficiaries for the scheme after a detailed study of the socio-economic status of people in the state. They added that the government went through records and financial status of individual families to arrive at the beneficiary list which is likely to be announced soon.

The Finance Minister also said the scheme providing Rs 1,000 to girl students from government schools pursuing higher education has resulted in an addition of 20,466 girl students in the state in 2022-2023.

“At present, 2.20 lakh girl students are benefitting under this scheme every month. The fact that many girls who did not pursue higher education after completing their schooling have now enrolled in colleges is a testimony to the success of this scheme,” Thiaga Rajan said.

The government had last year decided to provide Rs 1,000 per month to girl students who studied in government schools from class 6 to 12 if they decide to pursue higher education, to increase the number of women joining colleges.