Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said women are the source of creation. “Our government provided the highest positions to such sisters and we have made them the beneficiaries of all the welfare schemes,” he said. “This government was working for women empowerment in the past five years through its flagship Navaratnalu. “The Navaratnalu Schemes like Amma Vodi, Vidya Deevena, Vasathi Deevena, YSR Aasara, YSR Sunna Vaddi, Kapu Nestham and EBC Nestham have helped women largely and the loan recovery rate of self-help groups now stood at 99. 83 per cent. This showed the swift progress in women empowerment in AP,” the CM said. As for political representation/reservation for women, the YSRC government offered 688 posts out of the 1,356 politically nominated posts to women, seven out of 13 Zila Parishad chairpersons are women, 18 of 36 mayors and deputy mayors are women, 361 out of 671 corporators and ward members are women, 45 out of 73 municipal chairpersons are women, 1,161 out of 2,124 municipal ward members are women, 54 per cent of MPTCs, 53 per cent of mandal presidents, ZPTC members and ward and village volunteers are women, and 51 per cent of officers in ward village secretariats are women, the CM noted. Women ministers like Taneti Vanita, Vidadala Rajini, R.K. Roja and K.V. Ushasri Charan hailed the YSRC government’s pro-women initiatives in the last five years. They said the Navaratnalu’s Flagship Jagananna Amma Vodi scheme had benefitted 44 Lakh mothers with a total expenditure of Rs 26,067 crore and it helped women to provide good education to their children. In the past five years, YSR Aasara scheme loans were directly credited into Self Help Groups (SHG) accounts. As much as Rs 25,570 crore was credited thus to 78 lakh women SHG members. The women ministers said the YSR Cheyutha scheme deposits, Rs 18,750 per year, a total of Rs 75,000 for each beneficiary in four years, went directly into the bank accounts of women in the age group of 45 – 60 years from the SC, ST, BC and minority communities. These beneficiaries were tied up with corporate majors like HUL, P&G, Reliance, ITC and Amul. The Chief Minister, the ministers said, released Rs 14,129 crore into the bank accounts of 26 lakh women beneficiaries. “The YSR Sunna Vaddi scheme encourages better repayment culture and reduces the interest burden on the rural and urban poor of SHG Bank loans, under which Rs 4,969 crore has been released to 1 crore SHG women in rural and urban areas for the last two financial years. The Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme ensured accessibility to higher education to children from underprivileged sections. So far, Rs 11,901 crore has been credited to the accounts of 26 lakh mothers, making them independent in the economic decision-making of the house, they noted. Similarly, the Jagananna Vasathi Deevena provides financial aid to students pursuing higher education for food, travel and hostel expenses for which an amount of Rs 4,275 crore was being credited into the accounts of the 25 lakh mothers of these students. YSR Sampurna Poshana provides nutritional support to lactating mothers and infants. The total beneficiaries were 35 lakh women and children, at a total expenditure of `6,687 crore. Besides these, the YSR Kapu Nestam scheme helped 3.58 lakh Kapu women, the YSR Jagananna Badugu Vikasam scheme helped to reopen 358 industries of women and the YSR EBC Nestham scheme aided 4.39 lakh women beneficiaries, the ministers added.
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