The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Norms for issuing cards opposed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Norms for issuing cards opposed

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The All India Democratic Women Association’s (AIDWA), Bangalore Urban Committee, on Monday opposed the new norms to issue below poverty line cards; a move which it claims has hit women hard. Terming it an anti-women measure, the district committee resolved to fight for a rethinking on the norms.

Participating in the two-day district conference here on Tuesday, K.S. Vimala, general secretary of AIDWA’s Karnataka unit, said the norms specified were not practical. “The norms say a person earning above Rs. 327 per month or a person eating twice a day is not entitled for a below poverty line card,” she said.

She claimed that the Government had not been able to identify even one beneficiary for the Bhagyalakshmi scheme, an insurance initiative meant for girl children of below poverty line families.

Inaugurating the conference, AIDWA’s State additional general secretary G. Kumari questioned the commitment of the Government in working for the cause of women. Women working in garment factories continue to toil without the needed protection, she said.

Leelavati T., joint convenor of the Working Women Coordination Committee, said there was no point in taking the help of political parties who only offered lip sympathy.

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