Kerala Assembly: Opposition LDF marks protest over non-disbursal of benefits under Sthree Suraksha Scheme

The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) registered its protest in the Kerala Assembly on Monday over the non-disbursal of monthly pension for unemployed women as well as transwomen under the Sthree Suraksha Scheme after the United Democratic Front (UDF) government took charge.

Although Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan disallowed its notice for an adjournment motion on the issue, the LDF chose to continue to participate in the proceedings after Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan formally marked the Opposition’s protest, contrary to the usual practice of staging a walkout.

The Speaker declined to admit the adjournment motion based on Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan’s explanation that the government can continue with the scheme only after a scrutiny of the beneficiary lists. Mr. Satheesan alleged that the previous LDF government had implemented it at the fag end of its term, just before the 2026 Assembly elections.

“An amount of ₹1,770 crore has been allocated in the Budget for this scheme. We have not decided that the scheme will be discontinued just because the previous government had implemented it. There have been several complaints about the beneficiary list, especially that it was prepared without any field-level checks. No committee was constituted in any local body to select the beneficiaries, who were selected by party local and area committees. We will have to verify these complaints before deciding whether to continue with the scheme,” said the Chief Minister.

Govt stance unfair: Vijayan

Mr. Vijayan said that it was “unfair” on the part of the government to take “such an attitude towards women.”

“The Chief Minister is still not making it clear whether the government will continue with the scheme. The claim that the beneficiary selection was political is false, as anyone could have submitted the online application. The most number of applications were received from Malappuram district, followed by Palakkad. The scrutiny was conducted in a transparent manner by the local bodies and also by integrating the scheme applications with government systems, including K-SMART, Aadhaar, ration cards, the SPARK system for service pensioners, Treasury services and birth and death databases, to ensure that the applicants are not drawing any other benefits from the government and that they are AAY, BPL card holders,” said Mr. Vijayan. 

Mr. Vijayan said around 14 lakh applications were received through the portal in the first two weeks, from which 10 lakh applicants were found to be eligible after scrutiny. Currently, the scheme has 16 lakh beneficiaries, with 5 lakh more pending applications on which no action has been taken.

CPI(M) MLA A.C. Moideen, who along with CPI MLA K. Rajan and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA P.K. Praveen had moved the adjournment motion, said that no other State has implemented a social security scheme “by giving value to the domestic work” carried out by women. He said the LDF government had in its Budget earlier this year allocated ₹3,720 crore for the scheme.

“The implementation of the scheme began in October 2025, not just before the elections. The beneficiaries have come from even local bodies ruled by the UDF, after vetting by committees in which all parties are represented,” he said.