Delhi Finance Minister Atishi on Monday announced the launch of ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’ under which women above 18 will be given ₹1,000 monthly from the fiscal year 2024-25.
Presenting the budget for the financial year 2024-25 in the Delhi Assembly with an outlay of ₹76,000 crore, Ms. Atishi said more than 50 lakh women will benefit from the scheme, which will help them fulfil their needs without being dependent on anyone. She announced an allocation of ₹2,000 crore for the same.
For a woman to become eligible under the scheme, she should be a Delhi voter, should not be availing benefits under any other government scheme and should not be an income taxpayer, the Finance Minister said in her maiden budget speech.
Chief Arvind Kejriwal called it the “world’s biggest women empowerment programme”. Speaking at a press conference later, Mr. Kejriwal said, “A big announcement has been made for the mothers and sisters of Delhi. This will empower the women of Delhi by ensuring that they have money in their own hands and in their own names.”
He said the scheme will be brought before the Cabinet and subsequently notified.
According to the final electoral roll of Delhi published in January this year, there are 67,30,371 female voters in the national capital.
Those eligible will have to fill out 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 taxpayer, Ms. Atishi said.
Reacting to the various allocations, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva called it a “political budget”, which speaks of giving ₹1,000 per month to all women of Delhi but “fails to tell why Delhi government stopped giving pension to senior citizens and persons with disabilities for the past four years”.
