BHAGWANT MAAN GOVERNMENT GAVE RESPECT TO EVERY SECTION THROUGH ITS SECOND BUDGET: DR. BALJIT KAUR

Chandigarh, March 12:

          Social Security, Women and Child Development and Social Justice Empowerment and Minorities Minister Dr. Baljit Kaur thanked Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Finance Minister for presenting a public interest budget in the Vidhan Sabha and said that with this budget, changes will be seen in the lives of all sections.

          She said that Social Security departments that have access to every resident of the state of Punjab, while the Department of Social Justice ensures that the people who have been downtrodden for centuries get the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.

          Dr. Baljit Kaur said that under the able leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Department of Social Justice has done its job of providing justice to the people completely in one year.

          She further said that the matriculation scholarship scheme was under controversy for the past several years. She said that due to the looting of the previous Governments, apart from the education and valuable time of the students studying on scholarship, they had to stumble time and time again to get their degrees, while the Punjab government led by Bhagwant Mann implemented this scheme for the Scheduled Cast students in a transparent manner and also got the fifth position across the country for running the scheme in a good manner.

          She said that B.R Ambedkar portal is opened for students.  On which students can avail the scheme by applying online. This portal remained open throughout  the year, the scheme which was seen sinking during the previous years, this year more than 2 lakh 20 thousand students have been registered on this portal.

          She said that the previous Governments considered the Ashirwad scheme only as a means of obtaining blessings. When the Bhagwant Maan government came into existence, after that day, Rs. 51,000 omens were given under this scheme in the true sense. She said that our Government settled the pending cases of more than 35000 girls during the previous governments. She said that our government  has so far released an amount of Rs. 175 crores under Ashirwad scheme.

          She thanked the Finance Minister for proposing Rs. 850 crores for Post Matric scheme and Adarsh Gram Yojana and said that in Adarsh Gram Yojana we provide facilities in those villages whose scheduled caste population is 50 percent.

          She said that the recruitment process of around 5700 Anganwadi workers is going on. She said that due to the absence of a policy regarding the transfers of Anganwadi workers, Anganwadi workers had to face a lot of problems for the last 20 years, which our government has eliminated. Due to which Anganwadi workers are working near their homes today.

          She mentioned that after 47 years our Government has implemented reservation in the recruitment of Anganwadi workers as per the ideology of Baba Saheb Ambedkar.

          She said that this is the first budget of Punjab in which Gender Equality has been fully taken care of due to which a budget provision of Rs. 7172 crores rupees has been made.

          She said that women of the state are getting a lot of benefits through widow pension and free bus travel facility.

          She added that her department is continuously working to ensure 50 percent participation of women in each scheme of the Punjab Government.