VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy released Rs.141.60 crore on Wednesday towards financial assistance under the YSR Kalyanamastu and YSR Shaadi Tohfa schemes that would benefit 18,883 girls married during the quarter April –June 2023.
“Education is the best weapon. We have made Class X mandatory for girls to become eligible for the scheme. This would also help reduce school drop-out rate and increase enrolment in schools and colleges," the Chief Minister said.
Depositing the amount with the click of a button from the camp office here, the CM said the scheme was introduced to help girls from the poor SC, ST, BC, minority communities, construction worker families and the disabled to pursue their education.
He further said the amount would be directly credited to the bank accounts of girls’ mothers.
“We have made Class X mandatory for girls to become eligible for the scheme besides fixing the marriage age for boys at 21. These conditions and the implementation of Amma Vodi, Jagananna Vidya Deevena and Vasthi Deevea are helping the girls continue their education till graduation. It would also help reduce the drop-out rate and increase enrolment ratio in schools and colleges," he said.
The CM stated that “the intended results are tangible as 7,344 girls out of 8,524 beneficiaries in the age group of 18-21 are graduates due to Amma Vodi, Jagananna Vidya Deevena and Vasthi Deevea.”
Reasserting that education is the panacea for driving away poverty and other ills from the society, the Chief Minister said that the other intention of the scheme was to prevent poor families from falling into debt trap.
“Parents want their girls to have good education and lead a happy settled life,” he said, adding that YSR Kalyanamastu and YSR Shaadi Tohfa would go a long way in helping the poor families realize this dream.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said that in the last nine months, a total of ' 267. 20 crore was disbursed to 35,551 beneficiaries under the scheme. “In this third tranche, we have included 227 couples who missed the benefits for various reasons in the first two tranches. While the Telugu Desam government implemented the scheme for name sake and ditched 17,709 girls, we are sincere in implementation of the scheme.
Some of the beneficiaries from different districts also spoke virtually and thanked the chief minister for implementing the scheme.
Social welfare minister Merugu Nagarjuna, women and child welfare minister Usha Sricharan, energy minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, revenue minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, endowments minister K. Satyanarayana, chief secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy and senior officials were present.
