By Maya Palit
Sketchy forms posing as women welfare schemes are circulating in various parts of the country, including Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, and Lucknow. It was brought to the attention of the Ministry of Women and Child Development that unauthorised sources were distributing ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ (BBBP) forms and promising cash, and a statement was issued earlier this month clarifying that BBBP does not have a Direct Benefits Transfer or cash component. However, reports suggest that the fraud has been continuing despite the warning.
And in the meantime, thousands of women in Haryana were conned into buying forms for a fake government welfare scheme promising Rs 2 lakh for girls. In this case, the set-up was rather elaborate, as the forms were apparently distributed by photo-state shops, attested by councillors, and involved the women spending anything from Rs 10 to Rs 300 on buying the forms and getting them filled and signed. According to a report in The New Indian Express, the women then posted the forms to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, only to hear that it didn’t run any similar schemes for girls. It looks like the Ministry has got its hands full with these fraud attempts, and would do well to disseminate information about its schemes so that women across the country aren’t duped in the future.