Andhra Pradesh Government To Give Direct Cash Transfers To Women From Minorities And Weaker Sections. It’s A Start
Contrary to what many people would say, we were all not born equal. Yes, we were all born humans with the basic and fundamental elements about ourselves being the same, but everything that wasn’t just anatomy, was chanced to where we and how we were born. A girl or a boy, rich or poor, everything mattered because not everyone had the means to the kind of opportunities one would have, simply for being born in a certain family or with a caste or a religion. And that perhaps became the major reason why the gap between the rich and the poor kept increasing manifold, especially during the pandemic.
But looks like, the government might be finally waking up to the reality of this inequality, and doing something to support the ones who need it the most. Turns out, paying heed to the distressing and disheartening woes of the women belonging to the weaker sections, the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday launched a scheme – YSR Cheyutha – aimed at promoting entrepreneurship opportunities for women belonging to weaker sections and minorities.
Launched by the Jagan Reddy government, who is also the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, this initiative went live through a video link from his camp office in Tadepalli in Amaravati, where Reddy revealed how the scheme was put into place to make sure that women from minorities and weaker classes, like SC and ST would be able to make themselves self-reliant with this opportunity.
Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the YSR Cheyutha scheme, which gives financial assistance and livelihood to poor women of SC, ST, OBC and other minority communities in the age group of 45 to 60 years.
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The scheme per say includes, about 23 lakh women belonging to SC, ST, OBC and Minority communities in the age group of 45-60 years getting a direct cash transfer of Rs 18,750 per year aggregating to Rs 75,000 in four years in their bank accounts. The entire project is said to cost the government a total of 17,000 crore, as told by the sources.
Jagan Reddy elaborated on the matter and said, “The amount would be directly transferred into the bank account of mothers and sisters, who are free to spend the same on the activity of their choice.” Furthermore to this, he also talked about 23 lakh beneficiaries, 8 lakh widows and single women who were already receiving social pensions, and now would be able to claim this amount under the YSR scheme as well.
He also remarked, “The state government has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with major FMCG giants like Proctor and Gamble, Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL), Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and India Tobacco Limited (ITC) to strengthen rural economy and the beneficiaries of Cheyutha can be stakeholders in their business.”
Now while the opposition is coming in at Reddy, questioning him whether 18 thousand rupees a year are even enough for a woman to breakeven, but then again, at a time when there was no one else and nothing else being done for these women, this could be the start to something greater. And for that, we laud his effort.
