PM will transfer Rs 1,000 crore as part of government's efforts to empower women. (File photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj today to participate in what the government calls a "one of its kind programme" to be attended by over two lakh women. This will be the Prime Minister's 10th day in Uttar Pradesh in just a month as he leads the BJP's campaign in the politically crucial state where elections are due in less than two months.
In front-page ads across newspapers , the government said the programme, pushing 'the vision of the Prime Minister to empower women', will see PM Modi transfer around Rs 1,000 crore in the bank account of Self Help Groups (SHGs), benefitting around 16 lakh women members of these groups.
While it is a government event, it is expected to follow the pattern of such shows in Uttar Pradesh in the last month - with the PM using government events to take digs at the opposition, particularly Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, whom he called a terrorist sympathiser in one event. Mr Yadav has hit back, challenging the BJP to organise its own rally without using government infrastructure.
The Prime Minister will also transfer stipends in the account of those engaged in doorstep financial services at the grassroot level (known as Business Correspondent-Sakhis) to help them stabilise their work before they start earning through commission on transactions.
PM Modi is also set to transfer over Rs 20 crore to more than 1 lakh beneficiaries under the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Scheme, which provides conditional cash transfers to a girl child at different stages of her life.
"The total transfer is Rs. 15,000 per beneficiary. The stages are at birth (Rs. 2000), on completing one year complete vaccination (Rs. 1000), on admission in class-I (Rs. 2000), On admission in class-VI (Rs. 2000), on admission in class-IX (Rs. 3000), on admission in any degree/ diploma course after passing class X or XII (Rs. 5000)," a statement said.
In Uttar Pradesh, the campaign this year has seen growing prominence for women-centric efforts as the assembly elections approach.
The Congress, which has been reduced to a virtual non-player in the past few elections in the state, has been focusing on gender equality in the state where multiple crimes against women have been reported in the last few years. Some of these cases -- including the gangrape of a Dalit woman in Hathras, and the case in Unnao -- made headlines and provoked outrage across the country.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secretary and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, also gave the slogan 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon (I am a girl and I can fight)' with a focus on women.
The party has said that it will reserve 40 per cent of its tickets in the coming Uttar Pradesh elections for women to help them "bring change and step forward" in the society. It has also released a manifesto for women, promising 40 per cent of the 20 lakh new jobs promised by the party for women.
The Samajwadi Party has also tried to highlight its initiatives for women during the regimes of both Akhilesh Yadav and his father and party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) got toilets built for women and he was also the first to give gas cylinders to them, but never got his photographs clicked. However, the current government gets its pictures clicked. The SP has worked (for the people), hence, you should help in the formation of an SP government," said Aparna Yadav, who is the wife of Mulayam Singh's younger son Prateek Yadav.