Telangana to lend a helping hand to women, to revive Abhaya Hastham

Hyderabad: Telangana State government is all set to revive Abhaya Hastham scheme which aims to provide pension to the women members of Self-Help Groups (SHG) also called as DWACRA. The scheme has been launched by Chief Minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy in 2009 in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. After the bifurcation of the AP, the State government has put the scheme in abeyance since 2014.

The pension scheme envisages providing income security to the SHG women who are 60 years and above. It envisaged that a member would contribute Re1 per day and the State government would also contribute the same amount in the name of the beneficiary. The scheme ensured a minimum pension of Rs.500 per month to every woman member.

On the request of the SHGs, government on Tuesday constituted a three-member committee headed by State Finance Minister T Harish Rao. State Finance Secretary and Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Secretary will be the members of the committee. The committee will review the functioning of the Abhaya Hastham and also the Vaddi Leni Runalu ( Interest free loans ) to the women groups. Based on the recommendations, the government will take a decision on the implementation of the two schemes. More than one lakh women have been paying their contribution every month under the pension scheme. Many of them crossed the age of 60 years and demanding for pension. Officials said that the Society for Elimination of Poverty (SERP) has already prepared data regarding the women beneficiaries. District authorities will finalise the list based on the data furnished by the government.