Populist schemes galore in Andhra Pradesh

As the assembly elections loom large over Andhra Pradesh, a race of sorts has already begun among the political parties to offer sops and make populist promises. While the Congress, taking full advantage of being in power is going full throttle in launching one populist scheme after the other, other parties, specially the Praja Rajyam and the Telugu Desam are also trying to outdo others in luring the voters with promises of cheap or free food and electricity.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy added two more schemes to the long list of populist programs. While he  launched Abhay Hastam (Hand of Reassurance) scheme on Friday providing a monthly pension of Rs 500 to all the women members of self help group who have crossed the age of 60, his government is planning to introduce a new scheme of scholarship and reimbursement of fee for the students of economically backward sections including those from the upper castes.

Launching the pension scheme at a huge gathering of women from across the state at Rajindernagar on Friday, Reddy said, "The purpose of the initiative is to take care of the elderly women in society".

Under the scheme, for which the state government has earmarked Rs 365 crore in the next year's budget, initially 60,000 members of SHGs will get Rs 500 pension per month. AP has about 1.25 crore women as members of SHGs in rural and urban areas out of whom around 60,000 are older than 60. "As more number of women will reach that age, they will also become eligible for this scheme", an official said.

The state government has also provided Rs 370 crore for the scholarship and reimbursement of fee to the economically backward students. This is addition to similar scholarship and fee reimbursement to the students of weaker sections, including SC, ST, BC and Minorities and 20 lakh students of these sections were benefiting from it, making it the biggest initiative of its kind in the country.

Meanwhile the Praja Rajyam Party has prepared a draft manifesto with the stress on sops to the poorest of the poor. The highlight of it is provision of a package of provisions including edible oil and pulses for only Rs 100 per family per month. The other promises include continuation of free electricity to the farmers and introduction a similar policy for weavers, 50% subsidy to the domestic consumers of power in rural areas. The party is expected to officially release its manifesto in a week's time.

The Congress party is trying to outdo the PRP by introducing the scheme of providing a package of 10 provisions to every white ration card holder's family for mere Rs 50. The contents of this this package makes an interesting reading. 50 gm turmeric powder, 250gm chilli powder, 150 gm dhaniya power, bengal gram dal, mustard,urad dal, jeera, black pepper, clove and methi. Initially the scheme will be introduced in select districts on pilot basis. This will be in addition to Rs 2 per kg  rice scheme already in vogue in the state.

The main opposition Telugu Desam Party has already tried to go one up on Congress by promising to provide 20 kgs of rice free every month to every white ration card holding family. The party has also made 150 other promises to different sections of society.