Lucknow:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj today to participate in what the government calls a “one of its kind program” to be attended by over two lakh women. This will be the Prime Minister’s 10th day in Uttar Pradesh in just a month as he leads the BJP’s campaign in the politically crucial state where elections are due in less than two months.
In front-page ads across newspapers, the government said the program, pushing ‘the vision of the Prime Minister to empower women’, will see PM Modi transfer around ₹ 1,000 crores in the bank account of Self Help Groups (SHGs), benefitting around 16 lakh women members of these groups.
While it is a government event, it is expected to follow the pattern of such shows in Uttar Pradesh in the last month – with the PM using government events to take digs at the opposition, particularly Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, whom he called a terrorist sympathizer in one event. Mr. Yadav has hit back, challenging the BJP to organize its own rally without using government infrastructure.
The Prime Minister will also transfer stipends in the account of those engaged in doorstep financial services at the grass-root level (known as Business Correspondent-Sakhis) to help them stabilize their work before they start earning through commission on transactions.
PM Modi is also set to transfer over ₹ 20 crores to more than 1 lakh beneficiaries under the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Scheme, which provides conditional cash transfers to a girl child at different stages of her life.
