KOLLAM: Mata Amritanandamayi met poor people and tried to bring them to the mainstream while the government’s poverty alleviation programmes failed to reach the masses, Labour Minister Shibu Baby John said here on Saturday.
He was inaugurating the Amritanidhi pension scheme distribution ceremony at NSS Auditorium in Anandavalleswaram here. The Minister said that the efforts of Mata Amritanandamayi Math to improve healthcare for poor were laudable as the government facilities alone could not catch up with the progress in medical science.N K Premachandran MP, distributed Vidyamritham scholarship to 500 students of Kollam taluk. “Amma had been finding solutions to fundamental social problems. We have seen the huge support extended by the Math during the tsunami in 2004. It is also appreciable that the Math has introduced scholarships for the benefit of youth from financially weak backgrounds,” Premachandran said. Vidyamritham scholarships and Amritanidhi pensions were announced for 30,000 people in the state as part of the 61st birthday celebrations of Amritanandamayi.