By Sharanya Gopinathan
Telangana’s new Budget, which was announced yesterday, has plenty of new schemes, including one where the Telangana government will provide Rs 12000 to each mother giving birth in government hospitals, and Rs 13,000 to mothers who deliver baby girls. But the scheme we’re most excited about is the ‘KCR kit’, which has mostly everything going for it but the weird name.
Additionally, each newborn will receive a ‘KCR Kit’ (named after Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao). The kit will contain 16 items essential for newborns and their mothers, including diapers, a cradle, a mosquito net, toys, sarees, towels and shampoo. Other states have done this too: Tamil Nadu had its Amma kits, named after late ex-Tamil Nadu Chief Minute J. Jayalalithaa, while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh rolled out Chandranna kits, named after Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
While the weird self-obsession aimed at cementing legacy is a bit much, kits like this are a great idea. Finland has been using such a program for many years with great success, and seeing how well it works, Scotland is to follow suit too. These boxes are not just aimed at making sure newborns have all the equipment and items they need to survive, but also to make sure that all babies have a fair and equal start in life.