Thiruvananthapuram, June 24: Kerala, which has pioneered several social reforms, has announced a monthly welfare pension for unwed tribal mothers above 50 years even as it faces demands to clear a backlog of several other pension payments.

The beneficiaries of the new scheme, which according to the social welfare secretary is the first of its kind to be introduced by any state, will receive Rs 110 every month.

Kerala, which started the monthly unemployment dole of Rs 50 in 1982, has around 40 such schemes of which 20 are financed entirely by the state government. The rest are partly funded by the Centre.

The welfare scheme, announced by chief minister A.K. Antony yesterday, comes in the wake of reports of unwed tribal mothers killing their newborns in the hill district of Wynad because of poverty.

Most of these women were dumped by their partners, coming from non-tribal communities, after they gave birth.

Take the case of Neelie. An unwed mother, she told a local television channel about the pressure she faced to terminate the pregnancy from the man “who fathered her second child”.

Neelie recalled how several attempts to abort the foetus had failed and how the local government hospital had also turned her away on the grounds of poor health.

Sources said there are an estimated 300 tribal unwed mothers in Wynad alone and the culprits have often been non-tribal policemen, government officials and members from other communities.

Asked why the pension scheme was restricted for women above 50 years, a government official explained that chances of marriage became remote for women aged 50 and above.

“Once unwed mothers start collecting pensions and remarry, the scheme would go awry,” he said.

Director-general of police P.K. Hormese Tharakan, who visited the tribal hamlets on Monday after reports of tribal infanticide appeared in the media, has earmarked Rs 2 crore to set up a police lab that will conduct DNA tests for paternity verification.

He was, however, not ready to confirm the infant killings in Wynad.

The Assembly Committee on Women and Children and the State Women’s Commission had sent several recommendations to the state government but most of them have been gathering dust.