RIDING THE WELFARE WAVE

Ashok Gehlot is banking on a massive populist push and a publicity blitz to win Rajasthan as an incumbent and create history

- SONI MISHRA

Teeja Devi, 70, has only recently started using a smartphone. The elderly resident of Jhilai village in Tonk district, which is about one-and-a-half hour's drive from Jaipur, says her grandson is helping her master the gadget. She got her phone under the Ashok Gehlot government's scheme to give out free smartphones to women.

A widow belonging to the Nai (barber) community, Teeja Devi has three sons. One of them works in Jaipur as a labourer and the other two are engaged in the traditional profession in their village. The smartphone is a prized possession for her. She uses it to listen to songs, besides calling up relatives.

Teeja Devi's neighbour Meera Sain, too, has received a smartphone. She says her sons never bothered to get her one, but now she has one of her own. Kamla Devi Sharma, 85, is waiting for her grandchildren to help insert the SIM card into her phone, while 45-year-old Bhuli Devi is upset because her smartphone was stolen.

The women of Jhilai may not be adept at using smartphones yet, but it is an acquisition that is making them feel valued and they thank Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for it. They got the phones two months ago, packed in bright pink and yellow bags bearing Gehlot's image. The colour scheme is a constant in the chief minister's campaign.

The phones were given under the Indira Gandhi Free Smartphone Yojana. Under the scheme, launched on August 10 this year, 1.33 crore women are being given smartphones. Eligible categories include widows or single women who are pension recipients, girl students, female family heads who have worked for 100 days under the rural employment guarantee scheme or women who have worked 50 days under the urban employment guarantee scheme.