Chief minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday said the Delhi cabinet has approved ₹5,100 crore as the annual budget towards the Mahila Samridhi Yojana aimed at providing ₹2,500 to eligible women in the Capital, paving the way for what she claimed was one of the foremost steps towards ensuring the economic stability of underprivileged women in the city.
Speaking at an event organised by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mahila Morcha at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Gupta said that a committee has been formed under her leadership with cabinet ministers Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Ashish Sood and Kapil Mishra as its members to implement the scheme.
“The promise of ₹2,500 made to my sisters of Delhi has been given the stamp of approval by the cabinet today. The cabinet has allocated ₹5,100 crore for Mahila Samridhi Yojana so my poor sisters of Delhi can start getting the benefit. It is a major step towards ensuring economic stability and social upliftment of women, particularly those from poor families,” Gupta said.
The scheme was one of the key poll promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Delhi assembly elections held in February, which helped it break a 27-year-old jinx to storm to power with a two-thirds majority. It also marked a crucial shift in the core voter base previously held by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Gupta added that a portal will soon be rolled out for registration and the committee will deliberate on the terms and conditions of the scheme. “All the criteria have been discussed in the cabinet and the committee will finalise them soon so that the registration can start. The IT department is already working on the portal,” Gupta told HT.
{{/usCountry}}Gupta added that a portal will soon be rolled out for registration and the committee will deliberate on the terms and conditions of the scheme. “All the criteria have been discussed in the cabinet and the committee will finalise them soon so that the registration can start. The IT department is already working on the portal,” Gupta told HT.
{{/usCountry}}The scheme was widely popularised during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll campaigns in Delhi, particularly because it surpassed the ₹2,100 promised by the AAP.
Officials from the chief minister’s office said the scheme will leverage advanced technology to ensure transparency, efficiency and seamless disbursement of financial benefits. Officials added that Aadhaar-based e-KYC will be used for the enrolment process, which is likely to begin within a fortnight.
The AAP, however, said the implementation will not even help 10% of the women in Delhi. “The people of the country should not believe what Modi says because everything he says turns out to be a mere slogan. Even 10% of Delhi’s women are not going to benefit from this scheme of BJP,” AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.
While the cabinet has approved the budget allocation, it will need to get a final nod from the lieutenant governor. The provision will be made in the annual budget of the Delhi government to be presented from March 24 to 26. The roll-out of the scheme benefits can be expected only after the budget.
Delhi minister Ashish Sood said: “The committee will work on the terms and conditions for the implementation of the scheme and establishing the portal.”
The details of when and how the portal will be rolled out and what the terms and conditions will be were yet to be clarified, but officials aware of the matter said several conditions were agreed upon in principle. These include criteria for age, income groups, and address proof. The budget allocation has been made based on these criteria after calculating the approximate number of beneficiaries and in consultation with the finance, planning and IT departments, the officials said.
Separately, Gupta also announced the formation of a one-stop centre for women in each district of Delhi. “Every district will have a one stop centre for all the problems women may face. It may be related to health, legal, security or other issues,” she said.
She said in the last two weeks, the government has held discussions over the safety of women and decided to take measures. “We have planned to increase the number of CCTVs, install pink public toilets for women across Delhi, and that a woman police official should be present in all police control room vans,” she said.
Union minister and BJP national president JP Nadda, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, BJP national vice president Baijayant Jay Panda, BJP Mahila Morcha national president Vanathi Srinivasan, BJP MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat, and other party functionaries were in attendance for Saturday’s event.
Gupta, the former executive member of the national Mahila Morcha, said she was aware of the journey of each member of the organisation. “I know how my sisters come for the meetings. They run to complete household chores and then run to meetings and when they go back, they are often criticised for coming home late, but they manage it all. I salute you all for your efforts,” she said.
Former Delhi CM and leader of Opposition Atishi accused the BJP of delaying the delivery on the promise and called the scheme a “jumla” (hollow promise). “Before the Delhi elections, PM Narendra Modi made a grand promise to the women of Delhi... But instead, the Delhi BJP government has exposed the truth — it was never a guarantee, just another ‘jumla,’” she said.
Delhi Congress president Devendra Yadav also criticised the scheme, saying it would benefit only 10% of the women voters in Delhi. “The CM announced that the government will give this amount only to a limited number of women with very strict qualifying criteria, which, in effect, will benefit less than 10% of the over 7,100,000 women voters. She also did not make any mention about providing cooking gas cylinder for ₹500,” said Yadav.