M K Stalin deposits Rs 5000 to women beneficiaries ahead of polls
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin announced a special deposit of Rs 5,000 to 1.31 crore women beneficiaries under the Kalaignar scheme ahead of Assembly polls, drawing sharp criticism from opposition parties, who termed it an election-driven move
Chennai: M K Stalin on Friday said his government has deposited Rs 5,000 each to 1.31 crore women beneficiaries of the government’s women entitlement scheme, a move coming months ahead of the Assembly polls that led to opposition parties flaying his move as “fear of defeat at the hustings.” The Chief Minister also announced that he would double the monthly grant to Rs 2,000 if his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party was voted to power in the upcoming Assembly election.
Noting that Rs 5,000 has been directly deposited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries of the Kalaignar Women’s Entitlement scheme, he said, “You would have received Rs 5,000 this morning. I have decided to provide the sum in view of an attempt (by vested interests) to freeze the scheme citing upcoming elections.” In order to counter the move to prevent women from receiving the monthly financial assistance due to them, he said he had decided to provide the sum for three months from February and, in addition, provide Rs 2,000 to meet their expenses during summer, in a video message posted on his social media platform ‘X.’ “Further, the monthly entitlement of Rs 1,000 will be increased to Rs 2,000 once the DMK returns to power this year,” Stalin said in the message.
“I appeal to the sisters to judiciously utilise the amount for expenses towards the education needs of your children, buying medicine, or other essentials that are required,” Stalin, who is the president of the DMK, said, and exuded confidence that his party would return to power.
Stalin said that when he assumed charge as Chief Minister in 2021, his government faced numerous challenges, including the pandemic and the “financial crisis” left by the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime. “We provided a relief amount of Rs 4,000 to protect your livelihood. After overcoming the severe financial crisis left by the previous AIADMK government, we implemented many schemes,” he said in the video message.
Despite criticism that it was not feasible, the government successfully implemented the Rs 1,000 Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme from September 2023, initially for 1.13 crore women, and later expanded it to include many women heads of family ration cardholders, thus totalling 1.31 crore beneficiaries today.
Describing the initiative as “their entitlement sum given to recognise the contribution of women to society,” the Chief Minister said, “This amount has enabled women to meet many essential expenses such as daily household expenses, medical expenses incurred in the family, besides education expenses for children.” Owing to the scheme’s popularity, other states were beginning to implement it.
“As we are working to improve the financial condition, there is information that a group in Delhi and their associates in Tamil Nadu are plotting to stop the women’s entitlement for the next three months, citing the upcoming Assembly elections. Also, reports indicate that some are trying to move the court in this regard,” he claimed. “As someone in your family, I know very well how much difficulty you will face if this scheme, which recognised the labour of 1.31 crore women, is stopped for three months. I can feel how much pain you will experience if this amount is stopped during summer when it is difficult to go to work in the scorching heat,” Stalin further said.
Thoughts about how families would manage monthly expenses, buy medicine for the sick, feed children during exams, and meet other essential requirements made him take the decision to immediately disburse the aid for February, March and April. In addition, a special grant of Rs 2,000 was included to meet summer expenses, he said.
Reacting, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Edappadi K Palaniswami said, “The announcement reflected the Chief Minister’s fear of defeat at the hustings.” “The Stalin-led government, which did not implement this scheme for 28 months after coming to power, is now giving a summer special grant along with the three-month instalment sum,” Palaniswami said in a post on ‘X.’
Women will not trust this “patchwork of crediting election-time money,” Palaniswami said.
He claimed that Stalin had hiked the monthly sum following AIADMK’s election promise of providing Rs 2,000 monthly aid to women heads of family ration cardholders when his party formed the next government this year.
A Vijay wondered if summer came only this year for the Chief Minister to announce a special grant of Rs 2,000.
TheTamilaga Vettri Kazhagam founder questioned the state government for disbursing the monthly aid two days ahead of the scheduled 15th of every month.
BJP leaderTamilisai Soundararajan strongly condemned the announcement and said, “The Chief Minister made the announcement due to fear of defeat in the election.” AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakarans
DMK’s ally, the Congress, welcomed the move and said this would be a real relief for poor and middle-class families struggling under the burden of inflation.
“We see this as a tribute to the hard work and self-confidence of women,” K Selvaperunthagai said on ‘X.’