Kanyashree scheme 100% IT-enabled, BJP should stop spreading lies: Min
KOLKATA: State Women and Child Development and Social Welfare minister Shashi Panja slammed the BJP on Monday for alleging irregularities under the Kanyashree scheme and termed such attempts of spreading rumours about the project as unfortunate.
She made it clear that the transfer of money under the scheme is 100 per cent end-to-end IT enabled and said that the saffron party should abstain from spreading negativity regarding a scheme that has been awarded by the United Nations.
The minister during the question-answer session at the Assembly said that since October 1, 2013 when the project was rolled out till May 31, 2022, 74,86683 beneficiaries have reaped the fruits of the project and the total amount disbursed has been Rs 14814.84 crore.
The department has also asked the districts to strengthen the 8000 Kanyashree clubs across the state as part of the Kanyashree Plus programme.
Each of the districts has been asked to organise awareness through various activities in the form of self-defence, sports and financial literacy with Kanyashree girls to discourage child marriage.
To ensure that girls complete their school-level studies instead of getting married early, the Kanyashree scheme was introduced.
A beneficiary gets annual financial assistance of Rs 1,000 from class VII onward to class XII under Kanyashree I (K-I) and a one-time grant (K-II) of Rs 25,000 if
the beneficiary completes class XII level studies without getting married.
The KI and KII are supervised by the state Women and Child Development and Social Welfare department.
The KIII scholarship is implemented by the state Higher Education department that offers Rs. 2,500 per month for science stream students and Rs. 2,000 per month for Arts students.
In June 2017, the United Nations honoured Kanyashree with the highest public service award.
The project ranked the best among 552 such social sector schemes from across 62 countries that were nominated for the coveted award.
