Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been a “mahila bandhu” as he has been implementing several welfare schemes for women from their time of birth to giving birth, said Ministers Satyavathi Rathod (Women and Child Welfare) and and P. Sabitha Indra Reddy (Education).
They have asked women in the State to take part in the Women’s Day celebrations being organised from March 6 to 8. Speaking to newspersons here on Friday along with Mahabubabad MP M. Kavitha, legislators B. Haripriya Naik and S. Vani Devi, the ministers said that the objective of the three-day celebrations was to explain the welfare and development schemes being implemented by the State government for women.
The celebrations will include tying of ‘rakhis’ to posters and signboards of the Chief Minister, felicitating women working for women empowerment and development, and also explaining to women about development activities taking place in their area. They stated that the government had extended Kalyana Laxmi/ Shadi Mubarak benefit, introduced with ₹51,000 and increased to ₹75,116 first and ₹1,00,116 later, for the marriage of 10.27 lakh girls from poor families.
Similarly, another 10 lakh women were benefiting from KCR Kit scheme under which every pregnant woman from a poor family is given ₹12,000 financial assistance for taking healthy food from six months of her pregnancy to three months of nursing. Another ₹1,000 is given in case the woman delivers a baby girl, the ministers said.
In addition, Aarogya Laxmi, Amma Odi and other schemes have helped increase institutional deliveries in government hospitals from 32% to 52%, and bring down maternal and infant mortality rates. Besides, several other development schemes were also being implemented for women including the formation of SHE teams for the security of women, opening residential schools and degree colleges for girls, interest-free loans for livelihoods, one-third reservation for women in the police force, opening four women industrial estates, etc.
Later, the ministers along with State Women’s Commission Chairperson V. Sunitha Laxma Reddy and others participated in a programme organised by the National Commission for Women.
