the goan I network
PANAJI
The Goa government may have modified the Laadli Laxmi scheme to exclude those whose parental annual income exceeds Rs 8 lakh from being eligible for the benefits, but prior to the notification issued last week, several beneficiaries from the creamy layer, including daughters of politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists have already availed benefits of the scheme.
Debate on the issue peaked on Saturday after the leak of a sanction letter issued to former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar’s daughter, Shambavi Parsekar. The controversy gained traction and fueled raging debates on social media as Parsekar had recently made headlines, first for his dissenting outbursts against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and subsequently making a volte-face and denying he would be quitting the party to contest the Mandrem by-polls.
Going viral on Facebook and other social media platforms was a copy of the letter dated February 21, 2019 in which director of Women and Child Development, Dipak Desai conveys sanction of the scheme’s benefits to the former chief minister’s daughter.
A letter to Ms Parsekar from the Women and Child Development Minister Vishwajit Rane was also circulating on social media platforms.
Desai when contacted, meanwhile, ruled out leakage of the sanction letter from his department.
On March 14, the Goa government’s Women and Child Department notified the amendment to the scheme which provides financial assistance to a girl child making it applicable only to those whose parental annual income does not exceed Rs 8 lakh. Earlier there was no family income limit for a girl attaining the age of 18 claiming benefit of the scheme.
The proposal to introduce the ‘creamy layer’ criterion to limit the volume of beneficiaries under the scheme was moved in November last year and was prompted by records of the Women and Child Development Department which showed that the number of beneficiaries had topped the 65,000 mark.
Sources in the government said, a significant proportion of the beneficiaries hailed from the creamy layer. Daughters of politicians, including former ministers and MLAs, industrialists, businessmen and landed families figure in the list of beneficiaries.
Now with the amendment excluding the creamy layer from availing the benefits notified last week, the scheme meant to provide financial security to women on attaining adulthood as well as wipe out social bias against the girl child, will now be available to a section originally targeted -- the economically weak.
SCHEME OF THINGS
Govt modified the Laadli Laxmi scheme to exclude those whose parental annual income exceeds Rs 8 lakh from being eligible for benefits
Before the changes, significant proportion of beneficiaries hailed from creamy layer
Daughters of politicians, including former ministers and MLAs, industrialists, businessmen and landed families figure in list
