Mangaluru: An interaction session between Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister, Ramanath Rai and beneficiaries of the Government schemes was organised in the Town Hall on Tuesday, September 27th. A book on the three years of governance ‘Sadhaneya 3 Varshagalu’ was released by Ramanath Rai and soon after, the discussion began.

Ramanath Rai said, “Social and economic upliftment of poor families in Karnataka had started with the Anna Bhagya scheme after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took a seat. When the scheme was introduced, a kilogram of rice was given to the Below Poverty Line families at Re. 1 and shortly after that the Government revised the scheme to distribute 30 kilograms of rice a month free of cost.”

“The State Government was driven to make Karnataka a state free of starvation and provide education to students who could not pursue higher education. The Vidyasiri scheme was launched after Anna Bhagya to provide backward class students a chance to complete their higher education. Another incentive of Vidyasiri scheme is to provide financial aid to female students so that they can join a hostel”, Rai said.

Ramanath Rai then mentioned more such schemes which were launched for various facilities. “Apart from Vidyasiri and Anna Bhagya, there are Matsya Ashraya, Shaadi Bhagya, Ksheera Bhagya, Arogya Bhagya, Yashaswini, Harish Santwana Yojana and many others”, he said.

After Ramanath Rai ended his speech, various beneficiaries of the Vidyasiri spoke about how they felt gratitude towards these schemes. The student beneficiaries of Vidyasiri also spoke about how they were given incentives as stipends of Rs. 15,000 for ten months to stay in non-government hostels.

MLA Moideen Bava, Former Fisheries Minister Abhaychandra Jain, DC Dr. Jagadeesha, Kavitha Sanil, Roy Castelino and Lancelot Pinto were present at the event.