Karnataka govt all set to launch women financial aid scheme ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ tomorrow

Bengaluru: Fulfilling another key pre-poll promise, the Congress government in Karnataka would launch ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme, offering monthly aid of Rs 2,000 each to about 1.1 crore women heads of family, at a public function in Mysuru on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar offered prayers on Tuesday at the famous Chamundeshwari temple in the district headquarters town of Mysuru, where the scheme would be launched by AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge at the function that would also be attended by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

“As many as 1.1 crore women heads of households will be given Rs 2,000 every month,” Siddararamaiah told reporters in Mysuru, his home district. The government has earmarked Rs 17,500 crore for ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ programme in the current financial year.

‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme is one of the five pre-poll ‘guarantees’ of the Congress, which ousted the BJP from power in the Assembly elections held in May.

Asked if implementing the ‘guarantees’ was a challenge, the Chief Minister said it was not so. “There should be political will. Our party and government has political will,” he pointed out.

The Chief Minister said opposition parties were alleging that the government would not be able to implement the ‘guarantees’ and that it would lead to financial bankruptcy. But we have been successfully implementing them, he added.

Siddaramaiah on Monday had said about one lakh people would gather at the public function to mark the launch of the flagship scheme.

He had stressed that it would be a government function in which Kharge and Gandhi would attend the event in their capacity as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and as Lok Sabha member, respectively. “It’s not a party function,” he had said.

The Chief Minister had said the state government has already implemented three of the five ‘guarantees’ (pre-poll promises) — ‘Shakti’, ‘Gruha Jyothi’ and ‘Anna Bhagya’ — and noted that ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ is the fourth one. The fifth one is the ‘Yuva Nidhi’ scheme that promises to provide unemployment allowance to the state’s youth.