Karnataka launched Bhagya Lakshmi Scheme during 2006-07 (partially modified from August 2008) with an objective to promote the birth of girl children in below poverty line families and to raise the status of the girl child in the family in particular and society in general. Under the scheme Rs. 19,300 is deposited with the financial institution in the name of the first girl beneficiary and a similar amount in case of a second girl beneficiary of the same family. On attainment of 18 years of age, the girl beneficiary who fulfils the conditions of the scheme will get about Rs. one lakh. Government has spent Rs.1376.53 Crore from 2006-07 to 2010-11 on distribution of Bonds to 10,18,189 beneficiaries.
Department of Women and Child Development (WCD) maintains monitoring data and claim records for the programme but these have so far not been analysed for the research purpose. It has been in operation for almost a decade and more than 10 lakh beneficiaries had been enrolled. CBPS is analysing secondary data on beneficiaries, expenditure, claims, connecting it to other aspects such as infant mortality, sex ratio, child marriage, etc. to gauge the trends and analyse the initial impact.
