Identify Abhaya Hastam beneficiaries: CM

Hyderabad, July 8 (TNN): The Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Thursday directed the officials to enrol women members for Abhaya Hastam scheme without any scope for lapses and warned of action if any discrepancies crept in.After conducting a review meeting with officials concerned at secretariat, he said that the government would identify and enroll one crore eligible women of self-help groups and open pension accounts by November 1.

Under the scheme, members of the women self help groups(SHG) will receive a minimum pension of Rs 500 and a maximum pension of Rs 2500 per month after attaining the age of sixty.

The pension amount increases for those who start early, say at the age of 18 and progressively comes down. The women members contribute Rs 30 a month (Rs 1 a day) and the government gives a matching amount and the fund is managed by LIC. The nominee of the member gets the corpus in the event of the death of the member.He asked the project directors and area coordinators to identify Abhaya Hastam beneficiaries and issue pension bonds soon.