Mahrashtra Cabinet clears initiatives to woo backward castes

The Maharashtra Cabinet cleared a slew of proposals aimed at wooing backward caste as well as over two lakh unorganised labourers in the state.

Chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde told mediapersons after the weekly Cabinet meeting that a state-wide project called 'Adivasi self-respect programme' would be launched for providing four acres of land to landless adivasis, with 50 per cent of the land cost given as a government grant.

The balance will be backed by a state government guarantee. There are 2,74,000 adivasi families in the state who would benefit from the scheme.

The loan amount for the land would have a 10-year tenure with a moratorium of two years after which repayment will commence.

The scheme will ensure that the land procured and distributed to adivasis by the state government is registered in the names of both the husband and wife, with widows being given land on a priority basis. It is expected to cost the state exchequer Rs 20 crore.

Shinde also announced the setting up of a state level authority to carry out schemes for the betterment of over two lakh workers in the unorganised sector.

The Cabinet also cleared a proposal for renaming the Nagpur Airport (recently accorded the status of an international airport) as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.

The Cabinet also cleared a scheme under which citizens belonging to backward caste communities would be able to procure soft loans of up to Rs 25,000 at two per cent interest from the backward caste development corporations in the state.

The three development corporations in the state that have an equity share capital of Rs 164 crore would be increased to Rs 250 crore for this purpose. The three corporations are already getting an additional Rs 11 crore each as a grant for this.

For the unorganised sector of workers in the state employed in sugarcane cutting, construction projects, bidi manufacturing, brick kilns as well as handloom and powerloom workers, rag pickers, newspaper distribution services, rickshaw drivers and household workers would now be entitled to schemes formulated for their benefit by a state government body for the purpose.