GUWAHATI: Ahead of next year’s Assembly polls, the BJP-led government in Assam launched what it claims to be the “biggest” social welfare scheme in the state so far, covering about 90 lakh people in 33 districts.
The Orunodoi scheme was ceremonially launched by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal at Amingaon on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday afternoon.
Under the ambitious direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, one woman beneficiary in each of the targeted 22 lakh households/families will be entitled to a monthly benefit of Rs 830, which will be directly transferred to her bank account during the last week of every month.
The composite income of each family would have to be less than Rs 2 lakh a year) to be eligible for benefits under the scheme.
“Our government’s aim is to provide opportunities to the poor and downtrodden to lead their life with dignity. This ambitious scheme will economically empower women, leading to an Empowered Assam,” the chief minister said while addressing a huge gathering at the Numali Jalah Parade Ground.
The scheme has been rolled out among 17 lakh odd beneficiary families to start with. After the Bodoland Territorial Council elections, the number of beneficiaries would increase to 22 lakh families.
“Empowered women are the prime movers of society and schemes such as the Indira Miri Universal Widow Pension Scheme, Kanaklata Mahila Sabalikaran Scheme, Assam Gyan Deepika Scheme, Wage Compensation Scheme for Pregnant Women in Tea Gardens and several others would go a long way in empowering women in the state,” Sonowal said.
Later, the chief minister took to Twitter to inform, “With the holistic vision of alleviating poverty, launched the massive cash transfer scheme Orunodoi and distributed sanction letters at Amingaon.”
The Orunodoi beneficiaries have been selected from as many as 2277 Gram Panchayats and 100 urban areas across the state.
State finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma termed the occasion historic, adding that “it was a matter of great personal pride to see the state’s biggest social welfare scheme launched” here on Tuesday.
“It is an ambitious and a momentous step towards socio-economic empowerment,” he said, while addressing several thousands of beneficiaries at the venue.
Sarma said the scheme has been designed keeping in mind the fact that women are primary caretakers of households and therefore the benefits are best transferred to their accounts.
“The women need to ensure that they have a bank account under Jan Dhan Yojana,” the minister said.
The scheme, he further said, would help marginalised households of Assam for purchasing essential commodities like nutritional items and medicine every month.
The state government would incur an expenditure of Rs 2400 crore annually for the ambitious scheme.
“In order to assist deputy commissioners of the respective districts in implementation of the scheme, as many as 504 Orunodoi Sahayaks have been engaged,” Sarma informed.
So far, bank accounts of 17.6 lakh beneficiaries have been activated.
Money under the scheme for the month of November would be transferred to the accounts of the beneficiaries in the first week of December, while that for the month of December 2020 would be transferred during the last week.
An Orunodoi call centre has also been set up for beneficiaries to receive necessary information and make any queries or complaints if any.