Lucknow, February 22:
Ensuring all-round empowerment and upliftment of women in the state, the Yogi Adityanath government has maintained focus on women’s welfare in its budget for the financial year 2023-24.
In this, where funds have been specifically allocated for girls, a provision of thousands of crores has been made by the Yogi government for destitute widows. In the budget, a provision of Rs 1050 crore is proposed for the financial year 2023-24 under the Kanya Sumangala Yojana. At the same time, a provision of Rs 600 crore has been made for the Chief Minister’s Mass Marriage Scheme.
Rs 4032 crore for the maintenance of destitute widows
In the Yogi government’s budget, a provision of Rs 150 crore is proposed for the marriage grant scheme for the daughters of poor people belonging to other backward classes. Similarly, an arrangement of Rs 63 crore has been made in the financial year 2023-24 for the Mahila Samarthya Yojana. At the same time, there is a provision of Rs 4032 crore for maintenance and nutrition grant for destitute widows.
Rs 291 crore for the scheme of distribution of nutritious food
The Yogi government has made a budgetary provision of Rs 56 crore in the financial year 2023-2024 for financial and medical assistance to women and girls who are victims of heinous violence under the Uttar Pradesh Rani Laxmibai Mahila and Bal Samman Kosh Yojana. Similarly, the plan of distribution of supplementary nutritious food to the children of the age group of 6 months to 6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers in the form of “take home ration” through the nutritious food production units established by the Uttar Pradesh Rural Livelihood Mission and NAFED has been implemented. Rs 291 crore has been allocated in the budget for this.
The government has made a provision of Rs 25 crore in this budget for health insurance for Anganwadi workers under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Apart from this, with the aim of reducing malnutrition of children up to 6 years and reducing the level of anemia in pregnant and lactating women, a national nutrition campaign will be conducted, for which a budget of Rs 455 crore 52 lakh has been made. At the same time, the Atal Residential School is under construction for the education of the children of the construction workers. The operation of these schools will start from the session 2023-2024. A provision of Rs 63 crore for the remaining construction and about Rs 50 crore for the purchase of equipment etc. has been made. Similarly, in the case of institutional delivery of registered women laborers under the “Maternity, Child and Child Support Scheme”, the Yogi government gave an amount equivalent to three months’ minimum wage and a medical bonus of Rs 1,000 and Rs 6,000 in lump sum to the wives of registered male workers.
