After admitting his government’s failure in publicising its work and schemes, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav managed to rope in Bollywood star Vidya Balan to promote the government’s flag ship project ‘Samajwadi Pension Scheme” and make her the brand ambassador.
“There is an immense need for publicity of our schemes. People benefiting from these, actually do not know who is behind this. Vidya Balan is a known face on the silver screen and is very popular among rural women. She will addthe required publicity fillip in promoting the pension scheme,” Yadav said while inaugurating the launch of Samajwadi Pension Scheme in lucknow on Friday.
Vidya Balan is already brand ambassador of Narendra Modi’s ‘Swaach Bharat campaign’. She has shot a small film on Samajwadi pension Yojana which will be aired soon.
Under Samajwdi Pension scheme a beneficiary gets a monthly pension of Rs 500 per month. At present there are 53 lakh families who are getting this benefit..
“People are availing benefits of government schemes but they do not know who is behind them. I asked people who is extending help, they drew a blank. We have given laptops and Kanya vidya Dhan but people should know that it is Samajwadi Party government which is giving them these benefits,” he said. “We are racing against time. The need of the hour is to make people aware about good work being done by this government,” he said.
He further said that by making Vidya Balan the brand ambassador of the Samajwadi Pension, the party and the government will be benefited in two ways - firstly people will know who is giving the pension and secondly more women will come forward to get the pension. “The SP government is ready to include all poor women of the state in this pension. There is no paucity of funds,” he announced.
Chief Minister said that Samajwadi party has launched many schemes for the women. We realized what exactly their requirement is and worked accordingly. Others (political parties) distributed free sarees but we stayed away from this because sarees lead to fighting among women. We looked for some permanent solutions so we decided to give pension, he said.
Vidya Balan in her brief speech said that she is happy to be associated with this scheme as it directly related to the empowerment of women. She also said that such schemes should continue in future too so that every women gets some financial help.
“Development always do not mean constructing bridges or hospitals. Empowering poor particularly the individual women is the real development of the society,” she said.
Vidya said: “Though I have done nothing for the scheme except for giving my face and voice through the advertisement, but I am appreciate UP government for bring such schemes to empower poor women.”
MP from Kannauj Dimple Yadav, wife of the CM said the present government has done enough for the women empowerment which includes kanya vidya dhan, laptop distribution and now the Samajwadi Pension.
“Introduction 102 Ambulance service has increased institutional deliveries and to some extent have minimized the MMR and IMR ratio in the state,” she said.
State chief secretary Deepak Singhal demanded that Vidya Balan should be the brand ambassador for all the UP government projects so that people can know what this government is doing.
Advisor to the CM, Alok Ranjan said against the target to cover 55 lakh poor women families under the scheme the government has already given pension to 53 lakh families and this number is growing.
later the actor along with the CM and other dignitaries clicked photos with some beneficiaries of Samajwadi Pension, Kanya Vidya Dhan and the employees of the Women power line 1090.