Members of the district unit of Jai Hind Rakshana Vedike took out a procession and staged a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Friday demanding extension of Bidaai (Shadi Bhagya) scheme to poor women from all communities.
The agitators marched from Mahaveer Circle to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, raising slogans against the State government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for announcing the scheme only for Muslim community.
‘Commendable’
“It is commendable that the government launched the scheme for the benefit of poor women from the minority community. It should realise that there are a lot of poor women in other communities too, and restricting the scheme to one particular community will send a wrong signal to the common people,” a protester said.
If the State government sees financial problem in extending the facility to poor women from all communities, it could reduce the assistance given under the scheme from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 30,000, the protesters said. They submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to Additional Deputy Commissioner M.N. Nagaraj.
