Shimla: After much criticism from the opposition for a caste-based divide of the daughters of the state to avail the benefit of the ‘Shagun’ Scheme in the Budget announcement, the state government on Monday, brought about an amendment.
The Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur during the discussion on the Budget on Monday announced the amendment to bring about the inclusion of the daughters belonging to the BPL families of General category in the beneficiary list.
“Despite the financial implications an attempt is being made to provide relief to daughters belonging to poor families of all the categories. One thing is clear, daughters are daughters, poor are also poor and can belong to any category, our only intention is to extend help to them,” he added.
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Earlier, under this new scheme, the girls of SC, ST, and OBC BPL were to be provided with the financial assistance of Rs 31,000 to the poor parents for solemnizing their marriage.
With the amendment, the scheme will now be on an economic basis and the daughters of the state living below the poverty line will be benefitted.
The issue had been raised inside the Vidhan Sabha by opposition Congress members including MLA’s Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Vikramaditya Singh, while State Congress President Kuldeep Singh Rathore had also raised the same at various platforms.
