The YSR Congress government headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has introduced three welfare schemes in the name of his father and former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.
The schemes – YSR arthika pathakam for auto and taxi drivers, YSR Pelli Kanuka and YSR Sports Incentive scheme -- were approved by the state cabinet met at Secretariat under the auspices of Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday.
Of course, these schemes are not exactly new, but had been introduced by the previous Telugu Desam Party government just before the elections to garner political mileage.
The schemes have been revamped and re-introduced with new guidelines and better funding.
According to financial assistance to taxi and auto drivers, the cabinet decided to extend financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per annum to those who have their own taxi and maxi cabs.
While wife and husband are counted as one unit, assistance would be given even to son or daughter having own vehicles.
It's estimated that Rs 400 crore will be annually spent on this scheme that would benefit nearly four lakh people.
Under the YSR Sports Incentive scheme, cash incentives would be given to those who win medals at the national level.
The gold medalists would be given Rs 5 lakh, silver medalists Rs 4 lakh, and bronze medalist will get Rs 3 lakh. Rs 5 crore has been allocated for this scheme.
The third scheme YSR Pelli Kanuka is similar to Chandranna Pelli Kanuka of AP and Kalyana Lakshmi of Telangana.
Under this scheme, for which the government would spend Rs 750 crore every year, financial assistance will be provided to brides.
An amount of Rs 1 lakh each would be given for SCs and STs and Rs 1.25 lakh for inter-caste marriages among them. Similarly, BCs will get Rs 50,000 within their caste and , Rs 75,000 for inter-caste marriages.
Minorities will get Rs 1 lakh, disabled Rs 1.50 lakh and construction labourers Rs 1 lakh under this scheme.