Empowering women – Orunodoi

Hrishikesh Sarma

(The writer can be reached at -hriskikeshsarma@gmail.com)

Women play an important role in society. As we all know, India is reckoned as one country in the world for its great tradition and culture where women are accorded high respect. Women in Indian society are given the status of 'Goddess Lakshmi'. Indian women are found working in all fields like politics, banking, education, sports, defence, business and many more. In every sector women are shining bright.

Our county is also known as 'Bharat Mata', which means it is a country where a mother is considered Goddess.

The word 'orunodoi' means sunrise. It is the first Assamese-language magazine published from Sivasagar, Assam, in 1846. This magazine created a new era in the world of Assamese literature and gave birth to notable authors such as Anandaram Dhekial Phukan, Hemchandra Barua, Gunabhiram Barua, and Nidhi Levi.

The Assam Budget 2020-21 states a 'tectonic shift in governance delivery and poverty alleviation' in its estimation when Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the ambitious Orunodoi Scheme back in March 2020. On 6th March 2020 while reading the Budget 2020-21 in Assam Legislative Assembly Dr. Sarma said that "Sir, I took my first steps as a legislator and joined this House in 2001 and in the past two decades, I have seen many schemes undertaken by different governments with the highly laudable aim of 'ending poverty'. All these schemes have had a shared vision and ideology: the poor cannot take decisions on their own and will need the Government to take decisions on their behalf. All these schemes have been implemented either as an Individual Beneficiary Scheme or involved procurements of various inputs, often leading to sub-optimal outcomes." He also said that "while the cost of such cash transfers is huge and its long-term fiscal sustainability always remains a challenge, Honourable Members are aware that during the last 4 years, we have taken up many challenges and with the grace of the Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva, have always come out with flying colours. Considering all this, I would like to announce Orunodoi, intentionally named to symbolize our self-reliance, our self-confidence and determination to take Assam to a path of Resurgence."

Orunodoi is the largest-ever direct transfer scheme in the history of Assam. The main objective for the Assam Orunodoi scheme will be the implementation of various services in the Assam state. There will be different types of benefits which will be provided to the beneficiaries of the Assam Orunodoi scheme. The main objective of the authorities concerned is to help all of the residents of Assam to lead a happy life without any financial trouble. As we all know that Assam is a small state and many of the people suffer from financial crisis there, this scheme will eliminate all those financial crises for the poor families. As per the State Finance department, the policy envisions a 'New Assam' with a focus on empowering women through financial assistance that would help provide their families with nutritious and healthy meals. "The beneficiaries will receive the money on the first day of the month. The policy is for the poor and will cover 15,000 families from each Assembly constituency. Under the scheme, an amount of Rs 830 per month will be given to the qualified 17 lakh families to purchase fundamental items. An amount of Rs 2,800 crore has been reserved for the scheme under which every year Rs 10,000 will be given to 27 lakh poor families through Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT). As per estimates, they will get the sum on the first day of every month. It was launched in 1st December 2020 at Numali Jalah Parade Ground, Amingaon at 11:00 A.M.

The district-level monitoring committee will prepare a list of the eligible beneficiaries as per the guidelines. An undertaking will check the list of the eligibility condition and cross-check the list of beneficiaries made by the committee. A district-level monitoring committee will be set up for selecting the candidates. The district-level monitoring committee will finalize the list of the applicants submitted by the authorities concerned. The detailed application form will be made to be filled up by the eligible beneficiaries. The authorities concerned will also collect the bank details and other information of the beneficiaries. After approval of the final list, the list will be uploaded to the portal. After the cross-checking of all of the details of the beneficiaries, money will be transferred to their respective bank accounts. The beneficiary list will be reviewed after the end of each financial year to eliminate errors.

The beneficiaries will also be liable to the following subsidy amount on the different types of essential goods that they will buy from the shops: procure medicines 400 rupees, 50% subsidy for 4 kg of pulses 200 rupees, 50% subsidy for 4 kg of sugar 80 rupees and fruits and vegetables 150 rupees all total 830 rupees. Beneficiary households includes 18.20 lakhs, benefited population includes 90 Lakhs, 33 districts, 2277 panchayats, 229 blocks, 27927 villages, 100 urban areas.

The following people will get priority in the Assan Orunodoi scheme as per the official statement of the authorities: Families with widows, unmarried women, families with a divyang member, families having a divorcee woman, poor families not having ration card for free rice will get the preference, poor families with the National Food Security Scheme (NFSS) cards, families who own two or three-wheelers, tractors under self-help groups can avail the benefits.

The following people will not be eligible for the scheme: if any member of a family works under the government or PSUs, the family will not be entitled to get the benefits of the scheme, families having 15 bighas of land, four-wheeler, refrigerator, income above Rs. 2 lakh, own tractor are not eligible for the Orunodoi scheme, the family owning washing machine or AC, if the household does not have any female member, former and current Member of Parliament/Member of Legislative Assembly, employees of Government, doctors, engineers, lawyers, CA, architect, Income tax payer.

The transfer of money will be through DBT mode. Alter validating the bank account details of the beneficiaries, the Finance department shall ensure transfer of money on a periodic basis, based on the timeline fixed by it. The money shall be transferred to the identified beneficiary account only. In every DBT policy, the main concern is that of financial inclusion. It is defined as the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. It refers to a process by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable and timely financial products and services. These include banking, loan, equity and insurance products. The financial inclusion of the policy will be the key for the proper distribution of the benefits.

Honourable Chief Minister of Assam Shri Sarbananda Sonowal said that "Government of Assam is committed to building a socio-economically oriented women development narrative as the Orunodoi scheme would serve as a big fillip to the empowerment of women. Based on the doctrine of Sabka Saath, Sabka Bikash and Sabka Viswas, the present State government since the time of assuming power has been working for the socio-economic and academic development of all sections of the people."

Finance Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "We are very proud to officially launch the state's largest social welfare scheme 'Arunadeya' today. Present government has provided free enrolment to seven lakh students along with launching a scheme of insurance cover for students and others for the development of an academic atmosphere in the State."

We are grateful to this government, as this government has done a lot for people on this land. Giving special importance on women is really a good sign for our society.