KOLKATA: Gaining international applause and touching one milestone after another from the list of beneficiary initiatives of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal government’s Kanyashree scheme has achieved a target of reaching out to its current unique recipients of 75 lakh unmarried girls.
The scheme – which offers financial help in order to prevent early marriage and reduce school dropout rates owing to financial stress – is now benefitting 74,94,918 girls till December, 2021 and the figure is expected to reach 75 lakh shortly. This chief minister’s pet scheme was launched in 2013.
In June 2017, Kanyashree was honoured with the highest public service award by the UN. The scheme was ranked the best among 552 such social sector schemes from across 62 countries that were nominated for the coveted award.
It has two conditional cash benefit components – K1 and K2. K1 is an annual scholarship of Rs 1,000 to the girls from 13 to 18 years age group that they remain in education provided that they are unmarried. K2 is a one-time grant of Rs 25,000 to be paid when unmarried girls turn 18, provided that they are engaged in any academic or occupational pursuit.
For Rita Naskar, daughter of a van rickshaw puller in North 24 Parganas, the scheme proved a messiah on account of her dream of graduating college. “I completed class XII exam with more than 60 per cent marks but my academic journey was about to come to a halt because of financial stress. The one time grant I received of Rs 25,000 under the scheme has helped me pursue a nursing course under vocational training and aspires of setting up my own unit,” she said.
Chaya Sardar from the backward Junglemahal said, “The annual grant of Rs 1,000 allows me to afford bus fare since the bicycle I have been given under the state’s Sabuj Sathi scheme needs repairing,” she said.