Congress government in Chhattisgarh phases out 14-year old footwear scheme

After withdrawing from the Centre’s health insurance scheme for the poor, Chhattisgarh’s Congress government has brought the curtains down on the previous BJP government’s 14-year-old ‘Charan Paduka Yojana’, a scheme through which tribals collecting tendu leaves received free footwear.

The newly-formed Bhupesh Baghel government in the state has decided to stop Charan Paduka Yojana and instead introduce direct transfer of money into the accounts of eligible beneficiaries. ET had reported in its January 16 edition that the state has decided to withdraw from ‘Ayushman Bharat’ or ‘Modicare’, the Centre’s universal healthcare scheme.

Charan Paduka Yojana, started in 2005, entitled one male member of a family collecting leaves of the tendu tree to free footwear every year. In 2008, this was extended to women members of the family. The previous government under Raman Singh had kept the scheme in sync with the times and in 2013 women were eligible for sandals instead of shoes.


“It has been decided to phase out this scheme,” a spokesperson for the Chhattisgarh government said, confirming the development. “The government would not distribute any footwear to tribals this year onwards. It has been decided that the government would instead do direct benefit transfer to eligible beneficiaries.”

The government is in the process of deciding the exact amount to be transferred to tribals, the spokesperson added.

The development has drawn ire from BJP legislators who have raised questions on the fate of the scheme in the state Assembly. A close aide of Chhattisgarh chief minister Baghel said, “The chief minister is also in the process of writing an open letter to the prime minister that this scheme puts the poorest of poor at the mercy of government officials. At a time when all benefits are directly coming to the people, such schemes should also be transformed.”

The scheme, introduced 14 years ago, came into the spotlight last year, when on April 14 Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over a pair of sandals to Ratli Bai, a resident of Bhairamgarh village in Bijapur district. The image of Modi making the poor tribal septuagenarian wear the footwear, as then chief minister Raman Singh and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes chairman Nand Kumar Sai looked on, had gone viral. It was also used by the BJP to drive home the message that the party and the PM are connected with the masses. But the media coverage of the event also threw up gaps in the scheme, as Ratli Bai claimed that though her family was eligible, hers was the first pair under the scheme.