With an eye on the next panchayat elections, chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached out to the rural population, especially to the women by announcing a string of sops for them. She promised to give health insurance cover to over 32 lakh women who are members of self help groups (SHGs) in the next few months. She also reiterated her promise to provide three cottahs of land to nearly six lakh poor families who do not have a home in next five years. “I don’t make any announcement with an eye on the elections,” Ms Banerjee, however, claimed.
The chief minister on Thursday launched the National Rural Livel-ihoods Mission which has been rechristened as Anandadhara in West Bengal. NRLM, a government, is aimed at reducing poverty by enabling the poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities. It will also ensure that at least one member from each rural poor household, preferably a woman, is brought under the SHG network in five to seven years. Under this scheme (funding pattern 75:25 between the Centre and the state), the SHGs will get training for their capacity building and funds from the financial institutions among other benefits.