Chief minister Tarun Gogoi hands a cheque over to a woman at the launch of the Baideu and Nabou schemes in Guwahati on Monday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, April 5: Chief minister Tarun Gogoi today launched two schemes aimed at extending financial help to unmarried women above 45 years and widows living below the poverty line.

Gogoi said his government had identified the two particular sections of underprivileged women for providing them some financial relief as their plight had hardly caught the attention of any government in the past.

The schemes christened “Baideu” and “Nabou” were launched at a function held at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra in the presence of social welfare minister Akon Bora, health and family welfare minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and commissioner and secretary of social welfare department H.K. Sharma, among others.

Under the twin schemes, the beneficiaries will be extended financial support of Rs 3,000 annually.

The social welfare department will be the implementing authority of the schemes.

The chief minister said the state government had given top priority to empowerment of women though gender bias still existed in society.

“The position of women in Assam was considerably better than in other parts of the country but gender bias still exists and the girl child is neglected,” Gogoi said.

The chief minister said by introducing various schemes and by joining hands with NGOs and social organisations, the government was trying to ensure that women were empowered in all spheres.

“For that reason, I have announced various incentives for their progress and welfare in this year’s budget,” Gogoi said.

In the state budget for the year 2010-11, the chief minister had proposed to reserve 50 per cent seats for women in various tiers of panchayats and the urban local bodies.

A total of 20 per cent of government supplies and contracts, not exceeding Rs 10 lakh, had been proposed to be reserved for women. Besides, the existing 1 per cent exemption of registration fee to women on registration of land documents in their names had been proposed to be raised to 2 per cent in the budget.

Social welfare minister Akon Bora said the government had also decided to provide Rs 10,000 to girls above 20 years from below poverty line (BPL) families at the time of their marriage and the nitty-gritty of the scheme is being worked out.

Bora said apart from “Baideu” and “Nabou”, the government was also going to provide one-time grant of Rs 10,000 each to single unemployed women and funds had been provided for it in this year’s budget.

Health minister Sarma said the state government would also introduce a similar scheme for self-employed youths under which the beneficiaries would be provided a one-time grant of Rs 10,000 each as encouragement of their efforts to stand on their own feet without any help from the government.

Sarma lambasted the Opposition, terming it as “anti-poor” and “anti-women” for criticising the budget as an election-oriented one.

During the function, the chief minister also distributed cheques among some of the beneficiaries under the twin schemes from Kamrup district.