Who’s the woman head of the family? Atthe, sose fight over ₹2,000 incentive

Belagavi/Bengaluru: The proposed implementation of the state government's ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme, offering a monthly subvention of Rs 2,000, is said to have inadvertently sparked conflicts between ‘atthe and sose’ (mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law) in several households. Instances of disputes between saas-bahu have begun to surface as family members argue over who should receive the monthly cash incentive. The lack of clear eligibility criteria in the Congress’ election manifesto, where they pledged to grant the monthly subsidy to the woman head of the family, has further contributed to the confusion among households.

On Tuesday, when women and child development minister Laxmi Hebbalkar was queried on the issue, she said it’s a decision for the family to take. But later clarified that the money should ideally go to the mother-in-law as she is considered the femal head as per Indian tradition. “She can share the money with the daughter-in-law, if she wishes,” Hebbalkar added.Public works department minister Satish Jarkiholi also concurred with Hebbalkar, saying the money should go to the mother-in-law as she is the head of the family.Women activists felt the grant should be shared between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law if there is no consensus on who is the female head of the family. “This way there won’t be problems in the family,” said C Nagaratna, a woman activist.“It is very difficult to take sides on this issue. The government should give money to both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law,” said Kavitha D, another activist.Hebbalkarsaid it is too early to talk about terms and conditions in the implementation of the scheme, as the department has yet to discuss the modalities. “Some clarity will emerge after Thursday’s cabinet meeting,’’ she added.