Mahila Samman Yojana will ‘empower’ women

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, March 4

In a push before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in a couple of months, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has introduced a scheme to empower women by providing Rs 1,000 to those above 18 years.

Finance Minister Atishi announced the introduction of the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojna’ during the state budget presentation on Monday. The introduction was supported by table thumping and amid slogans of ‘Arvind Kejriwal Zindabad’.

The scheme will be eligible for every woman above the age of 18 years; however, women who are part of any government pension scheme, government employees and income tax payers will not be included in the scheme.

“This will be the world’s biggest scheme for empowering women,” the minister said. Atishi further stated that for benefiting from this scheme, any eligible woman would have to fill a form and give a self-declaration that she is not a part of any government scheme, is not a government employee, and is not an income tax payer. On the basis of self-declaration, that woman will start getting the benefits of this scheme.

Along with the form, every woman will have to provide her Aadhaar card and bank account information.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “Today a big announcement has been made for the women of Delhi. Now they will not have to depend on anyone for money.” He added, “Today is a very emotional day for me, I never thought that I would enter politics. I can never repay the debt of the people of Delhi. The people of Delhi are like my family, everyone should get a quality education.” The process to enrol in the scheme will begin after the elections. In her budget speech, Atishi also shared that the AAP government is providing financial assistance to senior citizens, women and specially-abled people through various schemes. Around 9.03 lakh beneficiaries are receiving financial assistance ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 every month. This includes four lakh senior citizens, 3.75 lakh widows and women in distress and 1.23 lakh persons with special needs.

She proposed Rs 2,714 crore for these beneficiaries in the budget of 2024-25.