Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday kickstarted the subsidised Amma two-wheeler scheme meant for working women, on the occasion of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s 70th birth anniversary.
As part of the scheme, every beneficiary will be given 50% of the cost of a two- wheeler or a grant of ₹25,000. Each year, one lakh working women would be covered.
As a mark of the commencement of the scheme, five women were handed over keys to vehicles and registration certificates by the Prime Minister.
Greening drive
In the presence of Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambi Durai, the Prime Minister also inaugurated a programme to plant 70 lakh tree saplings.
In the last six years, 3.99 crore saplings were planted under a similar programme.
Earlier the Prime Minister Modi was welcomed by Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister K Palaniswami and top State officials at Chennai airport. From there he flew to the INS Adyar Naval base near the Marina from where he drove to the Kalaivanar Arangam.
Addressing a function outside the Kalaivanar Arangam, Mr. Modi expressed happiness over his being able to inaugurate “one of her [Jayalalithaa’s] dream projects.”
Explaining how women’s empowerment would help empower households, the Prime Minister pointed out that women accounted for 70% of beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. This had demonstrated how the women “are stepping out of the age old shackles and seeking self employment,” he said. He added that about 11 crore loans had been sanctioned totally under the scheme and ₹4.6 lakh crore provided without any bank guarantee.
Referring to other schemes aimed at women’s welfare, Mr. Modi said that of about 31 crore Jan Dhan accounts, 16 crore belonged to women. Under the Stand-Up India scheme, women entrepreneurs were being given loans ranging from ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore. In the recent Union budget, the contribution of new women employees to the Employees Provident Fund would stand reduced from 12% to 8% for three years with no change in employers’ contribution of 12%.
