Mamata Banerjee: Acting Fast To Keep Promises Made
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-05-25 07:24:13
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It seems that Mamata Banerjee and the TMC have realized that the biggest thing that helped them thwart the BJP's heavy-artillery attempt to take over Bengal was the government's efforts to provide certain innovative social schemes and services to citizens at their doorstep. The Duare schemes were a huge success. Hence, less than a month after the TMC stormed back to power, it has taken up several schemes that were promised in its manifesto.
The state cabinet approved three schemes in particular - the monthly income scheme for women heads of family for 1.6 crore household in the state, an education loan scheme for students to pursue higher studies in the form of a student credit card and the Duare Ration scheme. These schemes were the highlights of social welfare schemes that were announced in the TMC manifesto before the polls.
Under the women income scheme, women heads of 1.6 crore families in the state will receive a direct transfer of a fixed sum per month. This sum will be Rs 1000 for SC/ST families and Rs 500 for general category families if they do not have any income tax paying member and do not own more than 2 hectares of land.
The student credit card scheme will allow students pursuing higher education to borrow up to Rs 10 lakh at only 4% interest. The borrowed amount can be repaid over 10 years and the state government will be the guarantor for the same.
The Duare Ration scheme, as the name signifies, will ensure that PDS ration is delivered to beneficiaries at their doorstep. Since the male members of many households work in other states, getting ration at doorstep will benefit many families.
The TMC government in West Bengal has designed several path-breaking social schemes in the past and has won national and international awards for some of them. The schemes have been implemented fairly and benefitted a large cross section of citizens. Hence, the government takes that record forward by introducing the new schemes so soon in its new term.
