The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Bhagyalakshmi’ premium doubled

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Friday, Jul 18, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Bhagyalakshmi’ premium doubled

Special Correspondent

Rs. 50 crore allocated for anganwadi buildings
Boarding allocation for Dalit students increased

Bangalore: Increase in the premium of Bhagyalakshmi insurance scheme for girl children in below poverty line (BPL) families from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh and financial assistance to self-help groups (SHG) at the rate of 6 per cent are the big promises in the budget as far as schemes for women and children go.

The other schemes include Rs. 50 crore for construction of anganawadi buildings, Rs. 7.5 crore for Stree Shakti Bhavans in taluks and a scheme to start hostels for working women in every district.

The other demands of anganwadi workers, including fixing of retirement age with benefits, remain unaddressed.

While the last budget banned arrack citing the demands of SHGs as the prime reason, the present budget seems to have undone some of it by allowing more bars and liquor shops to be opened “within the prescribed norms”. Akhila Bharata Janavadi Mahila Sanghatane called it nothing less than “alternative routes to the liquor barons”.

The plan outlay for the development of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Minorities has been increased from Rs. 662 crore for 2007-08 to Rs. 925 crore for 2008-09.

Although the number of proposals add up to a substantial number, the demand of Dalit organisations to allocate 23 per cent of the budget is far from being met.

The demand that a single-window agency should be set up to handle all Dalit-related schemes has remained unaddressed.

The long-pending demand for enhancing boarding and lodging allocation for Dalit students has been met.

The allocation has been enhanced from Rs. 450 a month to Rs. 600 a month in case of pre-matric hostels and then Rs. 500 to Rs. 650 a month for post-matric hostels.

For Ganga Kalyana Scheme, Rs. 157 crore allocated.

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