Bengaluru, Sep 23 (SocialNews.XYZ) Referring to the move to link the Aadhaar number of the beneficiary's husband along with the beneficiary's Aadhaar card, being made mandatory as part of the re-verification process, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly R. Ashoka on Wednesday accused the Congress government of subjecting beneficiaries of the Gruha Lakshmi scheme to unnecessary scrutiny and harassment by introducing new conditions for the monthly assistance.
Ashoka alleged that Congress had promised during the elections to provide Rs 2,000 every month to all women without conditions, but was now introducing new guidelines under the pretext of re-verifying beneficiaries.
He claimed that linking the Aadhaar number of the beneficiary's husband to the beneficiary's Aadhaar had been made mandatory under the revised process. He also alleged that beneficiaries would have to submit a new application containing 17 questions and that enumerators would visit their homes for biometric or facial verification.
According to Ashoka, the new requirements include mandatory linking of the husband's Aadhaar, matching of the beneficiary's name and address with Aadhaar records and maintaining a bank account without any loans.
"Why does the Congress government have so much suspicion about the self-respect of Karnataka's mothers? Why so much harassment for the Rs 2,000 being given to them?" Ashoka asked.
He alleged that the government had introduced these additional filters because it was unable to find resources to continue making payments under the scheme. He claimed that the new verification process was intended to reduce the number of beneficiaries and cut expenditure on the scheme.
Ashoka said the government was treating women beneficiaries as if they were suspects by repeatedly subjecting them to verification and demanding additional documents.
He urged the government to immediately withdraw what he described as "meaningless guidelines" and stop sending officials to beneficiaries' homes for repeated verification.
Ashoka warned that if the new guidelines were not withdrawn, the BJP would launch a statewide protest on behalf of women and expose what he called the "real face" of the Congress government.
The Gruha Lakshmi scheme is one of the five guarantee schemes implemented by the Congress government in Karnataka, under which eligible women heads of households are provided monthly financial assistance.
It can be noted that the Karnataka government has begun a statewide re-verification of existing Gruha Lakshmi beneficiaries to identify deceased, duplicate and otherwise ineligible beneficiaries and ensure that the monthly Rs 2,000 assistance reaches eligible women. The government issued the order in late August 2026, with door-to-door verification involving biometric and facial authentication.
As part of the latest process, enumerators are visiting households and collecting details relating to the beneficiary, family, Aadhaar, voter ID/EPIC and bank account. Reports on the revised guidelines say the verification form contains 17 questions, while Aadhaar linkage of the family head/husband and an Aadhaar-seeded bank account are among the details being checked.
Source: IANS
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