Dravidian Model govt enters 4th year

CHENNAI: The Dravidian Model government of Chief Minister MK Stalin would enter its fourth year on Tuesday, riding high on the wave of popularity gained through successful implementation of pioneering welfare schemes.

As CM Stalin completes his third year in office, a few pioneering schemes, Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai Thittam (KMUT), Vidiyal Payanam (fee bus travel for women), CM’s Breakfast Scheme and Naan Muthalvan stand out as the crown jewels of his regime.

Supreme among them would be the KMUT. Launched in September 2023, CM Stalin’s Dravidian Model government won the hearts of a whopping 1.16 crore beneficiary womenfolk in the state through the scheme since then. The DMK regime has so far spent a whopping Rs 8,000 crore and odd in disbursing a meaty monthly honorarium of Rs 1,000, which is deposited every month in the accounts of the aforementioned number of women, thereby also silencing the skeptical opposition and critics alike.

CM Stalin also bowled the state people over with the launch of the breakfast scheme covering 17 lakh students of over 31,000 government schools. A one of its kind scheme launched out of the blue without prior electoral commitment, its success was so undeniable that even the neighbouring state of Telangana announced that it would replicate it. Considered a first in the country, CM Stalin’s breakfast scheme, which jacked up the attendance rate in government schools by a fourth, hit the headlines for all good reasons again when he and his party claimed credit for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launching a similar scheme in the North American country.

The DMK regime also surprised many when it rationally redesigned the gold for thaali scheme into Puthumai Penn scheme to augment women’s enrolment in higher education. The government offered much needed fillip to augmenting women’s gross enrolment in higher education in the state by disbursing Rs 1,000 per month to roughly 2.7 lakh government school female students perusing collegiate education till the completion of their courses. A new Tamil Puthalvan scheme announced this year seeks to disburse Rs 1,000 per month to an estimated 3.3 lakh male college students too who completed their studies in government schools.

Any assessment of CM Stalin’s tenure would be incomplete without at least a mention of the Vidiyal Payanam scheme, which offers free bus travel to all women in government buses. An estimated 465 crore trips were undertaken by womenfolk since the launch of the scheme. An assessment by the state planning commission revealed that CM Stalin’s successful implementation of poll promise has helped women save an average Rs 888 each every month. Such was the impact of the said schemes in his maiden tenure as CM so far that Stalin is predicted to romp home in style in the just concluded Parliamentary polls due to the popularity of such pioneering schemes.