Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday, September 15, launched the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme that provides women a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 on the birth anniversary of founder of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and former Chief Minister Annadurai. Inaugurating the scheme in Kancheepuram, the birthplace of Annadurai, MK Stalin distributed ATM cards to the beneficiaries. Nearly 1.06 crore women are set to benefit from this scheme across the state.
Women above the age of 21 with an annual family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh, family land holding not exceeding 5 acres (wetland) and 10 acres (dryland), and annual household electricity consumption below 3,600 units are eligible for availing the scheme.
Speaking at the event, the Chief Minister said that launching the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai has given him greater happiness than most of the other schemes introduced by his government. Stalin said, “I recently saw a video where an anchor asked women what they would do when they received Rs 1000 under this scheme. One woman’s answer made me immensely proud of the scheme and instilled the faith that this will change lives. She said ‘if I have money, I will stand tall and walk proudly.’ Is there greater praise than this for the scheme? All the women in this gathering will also have a similar answer. Despite the different answers, this Rs 1000 will be beneficial for their lives.”
Shedding light on why the scheme was delayed despite it being announced in their election manifesto, Stalin said, “We would have implemented this scheme as soon as we came to power but the financial situation in the state was not great then. That is why we fixed it to some extent and decided to implement the scheme now. Some miscreants could not bear to see this and tried to shut this down by spreading rumours and false news. But we have kept our promise and delivered on it.”
Lauding the labour of stay-at-home wives and mothers that often goes unnoticed, Stalin said, “There is a lot of invisible labour that goes on inside the house. But stay-at-home mothers' labour is often dismissed by society. They are even branded as people who ‘don’t work’. Can we ever financially compensate for their labour? I believe that this scheme is one step towards compensating this labour.” He further added that this scheme is a recognition of the labour of women who work hard without expecting anything in return.
Amidst the Sanatana Dharma controversy created by his son and Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Chief Minister also took a dig at people who still oppress women in the name of religion and confine them to their homes. He said, “History says that women were working as much as men ever since we became an agricultural civilisation. But over time, because of religion and other oppressive structures, women were made to be confined to their homes. Some people even wrote that lowered caste people and women were inferior and must not be given any agency. This oppression was not limited to women from lowered castes but even from dominant castes.”
The Chief Minister added, “Child marriage was prevelant. But this has changed now. But there are regressive people who still endorse child marriages today. For people like that, they have a never ending anger towards the DMK because we have always batted for gender equality, social justice, and equality for all.”
The scheme’s launch took place across every district in Tamil Nadu. According to The Hindu, over 1.63 crore applications were received and 1,06,50,000 were shortlisted based on the eligibility criteria. The state government also said that the rejected applicants could move an appeal against the decision.