Bengal govt to include all women aged 25 to 60 in income scheme

KOLKATA: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday expanded the scope of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme to include all women in the 25-60 age group who are not employed by the government or drawing pension.
The scheme, one of the biggest announcements in Trinamool’s assembly election manifesto, had initially been conceived to provide basic monthly income support to female heads of Bengal’s 1.6 crore families. It promises to provided Rs 500 to general-category women and Rs 1,000 to those in the SC/ST category each month.

With 30 lakh applications registered through the government’s Duare Sarkar camps over the last three days, Banerjee assured everyone that there was no need to hurry or crowd the venues. “The government will organise 22,000 Duare Sarkar camps,” she said after the administrative review meeting at Nabanna Sabhaghar on Wednesday, adding, “The camps will run till September 16. Those who are eligible will get the benefits. Those who have already got Swasthya Sathi cards in the name of the woman head of the family can show the cards to get the Lakshmir Bhandar forms.”
Clarifying that each woman in the 25-60 age group would get the forms, she said: “Your names are there on the Swasthya Sathi card issued against the eldest woman member of the family. The response is huge because Lakshmir Bhandar is a new scheme. People can also apply for Student Credit Cards, Kishan Credit Cards, Jai Johar Scheme, land mutation in the Duare Sarkar camps.”
Mamata: Special camps to ease DBT hiccups over bank merger
Banerjee also flagged problems her government was facing to make direct benefit transfers (DBT) to bank account-holders of the erstwhile UBI. “UBI was the leading bank of the state, where many from our state had accounts. Now, after its merger with Punjab National Bank (PNB), PNB is asking for new IFSC codes from account-holders. I don’t know why there is need for new IFSC codes when account-holders already have one. Second, many account-holders can’t follow PNB’s instructions because they don’t communicate in Bengali.
They need to keep someone who knows Bengali. The chief secretary and the finance secretary have discussed the matter. Our finance minister is also aware of the problem. We are setting up special camps in the vicinity for those account-holders,” the CM said.
CM: Banglar Dairy will offer milk, dahi
CM Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday insisted that Bengal should have a Banglar Dairy when other companies were taking milk from the state. “Mother Dairy is a company from outside Bengal. Why shouldn’t we have our own Banglar Dairy? Banglar Dairy will provide you with skimmed milk, ice-cream and dahi made in the state,” she said. Banglar Dairy is already a public incorporated entity. It is classified as a state government company and was registered with Registrar of Companies in 2015. The dairy is engaged in production and processing of meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, oils and fats.