AMARAVATI: YSR Cheyutha Scheme launched by the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on August 12 last which aims at empowering women of SC/ST/OBC/minority castes to create their own employment opportunities.

The scheme involves a financial benefit of Rs 75,000 to be provided over a period of four years to women who come under 45 to 60 years of age.

This year, the government has also taken steps to provide financial assistance to SC, ST, BC and minority women who have recently attained the age of 45 years through this scheme.

As part of this, Village Volunteers have initiated the process of identifying eligible women over the age of 45 across the State of Andhra Pradesh. In the first tranche last year, the government paid nearly Rs 4,500 crore to 24 lakh women through the scheme.

However, this year the authorities are identifying those who did not qualify for the scheme after completing the age of 44 last year. The purpose of this scheme is to strengthen the rural economy of Andhra Pradesh and it is going to benefit 23 lakh women from SC, ST, BC and minority communities.

Volunteers will also identify those who have completed 60 years of age this year. These women will also be eligible under the pension scheme.

To this end, a special mobile application has been made available to identify the respective age groups for the implementation of the second year scheme. Volunteers will initiate the identification process and verify the age groups of the beneficiaries with the help of this app.

Panchayat Raj Principal Secretary Gopala Krishna Dwivedi wrote a letter to Ajay Jain, Grama/Ward Secretariat Special Secretary, asking him to take appropriate steps to carry out the identification process through the Village/Ward Volunteers.

In the first phase of Cheyutha, the State government had credited Rs 18,750 financial assistance each to 21,00,189 beneficiaries and released a total of 3937.90 Crores Rs 510 Crore to 2.72 lakh beneficiaries under YSR Cheyutha scheme second phase, covering those who could not make it in the first phase. A total of 23.72 lakh women were benefited through YSR Cheyutha and Rs 4,447.91 Crore has been credited to their accounts so far.

Also Read: Rs 4,687 Crore Allocated Under YSR Cheyutha, To Benefit 23 Lakh Minority Women