Former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Sunday, July 9, 2023 criticised the DMK government over the criteria it has imposed for benefitting from the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme.
In a statement, Mr. Panneerselvam criticised the plan to consider the income of all the members in the ration card to calculate a family’s annual income, while the guidelines say only one of the members would be eligible to apply for the scheme.
The former CM further insisted the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to take steps so that all women ration card holders in the State are eligible to benefit from the scheme. While the CM said about one crore women were expected to benefit from the scheme, Mr. Panneerselvam contended that if the eligibility criteria was considered, not even a few lakh women would benefit from the scheme.
“Like the [waiving of] gold loan scheme, people have understood that this [the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai] too is to deceive the people,” Mr. Panneerselvam charged. In line with the assurance made in the election manifesto, the DMK government should grant the monthly aid to all the women with ration cards, he said.
If the election assurance were to go by, women in about 2 crore ration cards should be given the aid, he argued. Mr. Panneerselvam further criticised various eligibility criteria mentioned in the guidelines and contended that they were not acceptable. “Going by the guidelines, it is clear that a majority would not benefit from the scheme,” he said.
