Pongal Cash, Gift Hamper Scheme, Tamil Nadu

On December 21, 2020, CMO Tamil Nadu, Mr. Edappadi K Palaniswami launched Pongal Cash, Gift Hamper scheme in the state. This scheme is launched for the rice ration card holders across the state. Under this scheme each beneficiary will get an incentive cash of Rs. 2,500 as well as a gift hamper consisting of 1 kg raw rice, 1 kg sugar, 20 gm cashew nuts, 20 gm dry grapes, 5 gm cardamom and sugar cane. This distribution to rice card holders is mainly on for them to celebrate the harvest season – Pongal. This festival is during mid-January period and this scheme will rejuvenate the spirit of the beneficiaries thereby making the festival celebrations big for them.

Scheme Overview:

List of scheme lunched by Tamil Nadu Government

Scheme Objectives and Benefits:

• The main objective of the scheme is to motivate the beneficiaries and rejuvenate the spirit of celebrating the upcoming Pongal festival
• All the rice card holders across the state are covered under this scheme
• This year has been tough and full of economic pressure on the residents of the state and all over thus this scheme is aimed at relieving the pressure to a certain extent
• Under this scheme the beneficiaries will get a cash incentive of Rs. 2500/- each
• Apart from cash a gift bag will also be given to each card holder
• The gift bag will consist of 1 kg raw rice, 1 kg sugar, 20 gm cashew nuts, 20 gm dry grapes, 5 gm cardamom and sugar cane.
• This scheme will help people celebrate the upcoming Pongal, the harvest festival in 2021 with good vibes

Scheme Details:

• Pongal Cash, Gift hamper Scheme is launched by the Tamil Nadu government for the rice card holders in the state
• The scheme is launched by the CM Edappadi K Palaniswami on December 21, 2020
• This scheme is launched for the upcoming harvest festival – Pongal
• Under this scheme the beneficiaries will get Rs. 2500/- cash and a gift hamper consisting of 1 kg raw rice, 1 kg sugar, 20 gm cashew nuts, 20 gm dry grapes, 5 gm cardamom and sugar cane
• This scheme tends to rejuvenate a positive spirit of celebrating the festival
• The distribution under this scheme will start from January 4, 2020
• Due to the pandemic people have faced a lot of economic pressure and thus the government tends to release the pressure to some extent
• This scheme will cover about 2.6 crore rice card holders in the state ‘
• CM distributed the gift package to 9 beneficiary families at the time of scheme launch to mark the start
• He also distributed Dhotis and Sarees to some beneficiaries
• Estimated scheme outlay is Rs. 5,604.84 crores