State Bank of India announces 'foster family' scheme: Rs 5,000 per month

State Bank of India announces 'foster family' scheme: Rs 5,000 per month

State Bank of India has proposed to declare a "foster family" scheme to provide financial assistance to poor families affected by the Karona epidemic.  State Bank also said how the scheme would be successful.  According to the proposal, rich taxpayers with an annual income of more than Rs 10 lakh will adopt one poor family.  They will pay that family Rs 5,000 a month.  In this way, the poor family can earn Rs 60,000 a year.  The government does not have to spend a penny or bear the brunt of the financial burden, ”the SBI Ecorap report said.

 The scheme is said to be optional.  But it is also clear that the scheme will not be successful if taxpayers are not encouraged.  The LPG gift-up scheme was optional, the report said.  Taxpayers earning more than Rs 10 lakh were asked to abstain from LPG subsidies.  About 30 crore taxpayers were eligible for the subsidy.  Despite much publicity, at least 1 crore people have left the LPG subsidy.  The report therefore recommends that taxpayers be encouraged not to repeat the errors in the scheme.

State Bank has tried to explain that there are 7 million taxpayers in the country with an annual income of more than Rs 10 lakh.  If the scheme is 10 per cent successful, it will benefit 7 lakh families or 28 million family members.  In order to encourage taxpayers, the government will have to pay another Rs 50,000 in exemptions under Article 80C of the Income Tax Act.  With this facility, the government will lose Rs 1,050 crore a year.  But if the government had given Rs 50,000 a year to 600,000 families, the government would have had to spend a lot more than Rs 3,500 crore.