Rs 10,798 cr for uplift of poor

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12

The Budget estimates for 2021-22 propose an outlay of Rs 10,798 crore for economic uplift of poor and vulnerable sections of society against an outlay of Rs 10,118 crore this fiscal, indicating an increase of 6.7 per cent.

This includes Rs 524 crore for welfare of SCs and BCs, Rs 7,829 crore for social justice and empowerment, Rs 824 crore for the Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana and Rs 1,621 crore for women and child development.

Announcing the launch of the Mukhya Mantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Abhiyan, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the scheme would draw verified data from Parivar Pehchan Patra and identify the poorest one lakh families in the state.

He said a package of education, skill development, wage employment, self employment and job creation measures would be adopted and tailored to ensure economic uplift so that each family reached the economic threshold of Rs 1.8 lakh per annum.

He pointed out that once these one lakh families were uplifted, the government would identify the next one lakh poorest families and work for their uplift.

Announcing a raise of old-age ‘samman’ allowance from Rs 2,250 per month to Rs 2,500 per month from April 1, Khattar said allowances under other schemes would be proportionately increased.

Widow and destitute women’s pension, ‘divyang’ pension, ‘ladli’ social security allowance, eunuch allowance and dwarves’ allowance were Rs 2,250 per month while assistance to destitute children was Rs 1,350 per month and to non-schoolgoing disabled children Rs 1,650 per month, he said.

Khattar said to achieve the goals of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, the government was implementing a number of initiatives with the assistance of the Union Government.