Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu had announced providing Rs 1500 a month to women aged 18 to 59 years across the state.
The scheme, named Indira Gandhi Pyari Brahmin Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana, is among the 10 guarantees that Congress announced in its manifesto for 2022 Assembly elections. Sukhu said that the scheme will come into effect from the new financial year and beneficiaries will start getting the financial assistance from next month. The notification of the scheme was released on Wednesday.
According to the notification, the primary condition for a woman to avail the benefits of the scheme is that she has to be between 18 to 59 years and a permanent resident of Himachal Pradesh. The Central and state government employees, pensioners, contract, outsourced, daily wage earners, part-time employees, ex-servicemen and military widows, Anganwadi workers, assistants, Asha workers, mid-day meal workers, multi-task workers, social workers, security pension beneficiaries, employees of Panchayati Raj institutions, urban bodies, employees of public undertakings board, corporation, council or agency are excluded from the benefits of the scheme.
The notification states that “family” means husband, wife, adult or minor son and unmarried daughters whose names along with the applicant are registered in the family register (rural areas) and ration card (urban areas) as on March 31, 2023.
Eligible women have to fill the application form and submit it to the Tehsil Welfare Officer for screening. The applicant's age certificate, Himachali bonafide or native resident certificate along with photo copies of passbook for bank or post office account number, Aadhar card and ration card will have to be attached along with the application. Tehsil Welfare Officer will ensure that the application is complete including all further formalities as per rules. Incomplete or ineligible category applications will be sent back to the applicant with comments within 15 days.
The scheme has raised a political debate in Himachal Pradesh with the Congress patting its back on completion of another guarantee while BJP has raised questions on the timing and terms and conditions of this scheme.
“We are fulfilling another guarantee of ours and women will get the benefit of this scheme from April 2024. About 2.45 lakh women of the state who are getting pension of Rs 1100 and 1150 per month are being given Rs 1500 from February 1, 2024. More than 5 lakh women will get benefit under this scheme and every year about Rs 800 crore will be spent on this scheme," Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said while announcing the scheme.
Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur has termed the scheme as a yet another lie of the Congress government because although there are 22 lakh eligible women in the state, the government figure of beneficiaries is only 5 lakh. “This is a betrayal to the women of the state because all would not be covered under the scheme. Also, it has been announced only a few days before the implementation of the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections."
"The government is hastily taking the decision to fulfill the guarantees. Congress had promised to give Rs 1500 to the women, but now by imposing conditions, lakhs of women will be deprived of the benefits. There are 22 lakh women in the state but only 5 lakh will get the benefit. Many of these women are already taking pension under social security schemes" Bihari Lal Sharma, state general secretary, BJP said.
Questions are being raised whether the scheme will ensure electoral benefits for Congress. According to journalist Dhananjay Sharma, Congress is talking about fulfilling its election promise but cashing in on this promise in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections may be a challenge for the party.
"Before the Assembly elections, Congress had promised to give Rs 1500 to every woman above 18 years. The party had promised that if there are four women in a family, all four will get Rs 1500. Now the Congress government is facing political crisis after the cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. Although mid-term elections may seem far away but Congress is afraid of it and are fulfilling the election guarantees. However, the biggest difficulty faced by Congress in this scheme is the regulations have left a large part of the population out of the scheme. Now, the government is talking about giving benefits to 5 lakh women whereas the election promise was something else. Thus BJP is making this an issue," Sharma said.
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