By Dr. Gyan Pathak
BJP led Delhi government is almost ready to launch Mahila Samriddhi Scheme on March 8, on the occasion of International women’s day. During the Vidhan Sabha election, BJP had promised women of Delhi to give Rs 2,500 per month, as against the AAP government’s scheme of giving assistance of Rs 1000 per month, and against a promise by AAP to raise it to Rs 2100 per month if they would come to power. Women predominantly voted to BJP which came to power, but 50 per cent of eligible women would lose their eligibility under BJP’s new eligibility criteria.
Nevertheless, BJP may now claim that they have launched the promised scheme of giving Rs 2500 per month to women in Delhi. Officials from Delhi’s finance department had estimated that there were around 3.8 million eligible women for the scheme approved by the Delhi Cabinet under AAP. However, under the changed eligibility criteria only about 1.5 to 2 million women are likely to be benefited. It means about 50 per cent of women who were tempted by the BJP’s promise of greater financial assistance than of AAP, may not get any financial assistance at all.
AAP’s Mahila Samman Yojana had eligibility criteria, such as the woman should not be income tax payer, government employee, pensioners. The other criteria were that she should be above 18 years of age, and should be a resident of Delhi with valid voter Identity Card as on the date of the cabinet decision. The cabinet had made this decision on December 12, 2024. The amount of assistance of Rs1000 was slated to be increased to Rs2100 after the 2025 assembly elections, result of which came out on February 8, 2025. AAP was thrown out of power by the BJP.
Nevertheless, when BJP came to power, the promise of giving Rs2500 per month to women in Delhi was not cleared in the first cabinet meeting. While addressing her first press conference, CM Rekha Gupta said that her cabinet had decided in its first meeting to implement the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, and also to table 14 pending Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the first Delhi Assembly. When asked about much publicised election campaign and promise of providing Rs2500 per month to women, she said that it was discussed at the cabinet meeting, but they found that more discussions were required for taking a call on category of women to be given the benefit.
AAP leader and former chief minister Atishi, after the CM Rekha Gupta’s press conference, accused the BJP-led Delhi government of ‘breaking its promise’. The BJP has “made up its mind” to “cheat” the people of Delhi. AAP has threatened to protest it if BJP would not implement the scheme by March 8. AAP has repeated the ultimatum in later days, until March 5, when it said only three days are left, and if BJP does not keep its promise AAP will launch protest demonstration.
On the other hand, BJP had announced the they would launch the scheme on the occasion of women’s day on March 8. PM Narendra Modi had reportedly asked the Delhi BJP leadership to launch the scheme on women’s day. BJP leadership has worked out on the criteria of eligibility of women which may reduce the number of beneficiary by about 50 per cent.
Under the new criteria women aged between 18 and 60 years can apply if their household income is less than Rs 3 lakh per year. However, this scheme will not include those who are government employees or already receiving financial aid from the government. Women above 60 are also not eligible since they can avail an old-age pension.
Delhi government will launch an online portal on which women can apply for financial assistance. The system would verify the eligibility. The application process will be linked to Aadhaar cards, and officials would check if the applicant is already receiving any other government aid. Below poverty line data and income tax data would also be checked to verify eligibility.
Delhi government has asked data of women from the Chief Electoral Officer and the Food and Civil Supplies department so that the government officials could identify the eligible women for financial assistance of Rs 2500.
It should be noted that there are over 72 lakh women voters in Delhi out of them only about half cast their votes during the recent Vidhan Sabha election.
Delhi government is busy in finalising the details, and the Cabinet is most likely to clear it for launch on International Women’s Day. Nevertheless, integration of the portal with other departments would take time. Even though the scheme would be launched, its implementation would take time, since the online system is not fully ready. Moreover, about 50 per cent of women would be disheartened since they would be made ineligible for receiving the financial aid of Rs 2500 per month by the new eligibility criteria. (IPA Service)
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