Taking a cue from the erstwhile Shivraj Singh Chauhan Government’s Ladli scheme in Madhya Pradesh, the Arvind Kejriwal Government in NCT Delhi on Monday announced annual sops of Rs 12,000 for the women of national Capital above 18 years of age. The beneficiary must be a voter card holder of NCT Delhi.
Women registered as voters in Delhi who are not availing of benefits under any other Government scheme will be eligible under the scheme. The woman should neither be a Government employee nor an income taxpayer. According to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, about 50 lakh women will benefit from this in Delhi.
The ‘freebie’ comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections when the Kejriwal led AAP is contesting four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi as an alliance partner of the Congress in INDIA Bloc. Provisions of free electricity, water to certain consumers and free DTC bus ride to women already exist in the system.
A data of the Delhi Government showed that it had kept a provision of Rs 3,250 crore for electricity subsidy in 2023-24, which was Rs 3,161 crore in 2022-23. Besides, DTC and DJB are incurring huge losses due to freebies.
Presenting the Budget outlay of Rs 76,000 crore which is 1.47 per cent higher than the Revised Estimates of Rs 74,900 crore of the year 2023-24 for the year 2024-25, in Delhi Assembly which it claimed to be inspired by the vision of ‘Ram Rajya , Finance Minister Atishi announced that the Kejriwal Government will give of Rs 1,000 per month to women above 18 years, having voter identity cards from the national Capital.
Kejriwal called it the “world’s biggest programme” for women empowerment and asserted that the Government is inspired by the ideals of Ram Rajya.
The new initiative is strikingly similar to Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Yojana which was launched by the then Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government in March last year, under which women from lower- and middle-class homes would receive a monthly transfer of Rs 1,000 into their accounts.
Interestingly, the overall Budget for the financial year 2024-25 has witnessed a 3.7 per cent reduction compared to Rs 78,800 crore allotted in the preceding fiscal. The allocation for health and education sectors also reduced in the latest budget.
According to Budget document the Kejriwal Government has earmarked Rs 2,000 crore under the ‘Mukhyamamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’. Under the scheme Rs 1,000 per month to be given to women, who is above 18 years in the national Capital.
“When money comes into the hands of a common man, they go to the market. This creates demand in the market and leads to progress of the country. The Budget of Delhi Government is inspired by the concept of Ram Raj. In this, all sections and all sectors have been taken care of,” he said.
Further, the Government has allocated Rs 16,396 crore for the education sector, slightly down from the previous fiscal’s allocation of Rs 16,575 crore. Similarly, the health sector’s outlay of Rs 8,685 crore is less than Rs 9,742 earmarked in the previous Budget.
As per the Budget document, 6731 crore earmarked in the Transport Sector , Rs 8,241 crore to the local bodies, Rs 7,195 crore for the Delhi Jal Board, Rs 6,216 crore for various schemes under the Social Welfare Department, Women and Child Development Department and SC/ST/OBC Welfare Department, Rs 5,702 crore for transport sector, Rs 3,500 crore for the Delhi Government bus services towards the next financial year, Rs 3,353 crore for the power sector, Rs 1,768 crore for road and flyovers, Rs 664 crore for all the nutrition-related schemes, Rs 902 crore for unauthorised colonies, Rs 850 crore to the MCD, Rs 510 crore for induction of electric buses in DTC and cluster buses fleet and Rs 500 crore for the Delhi Metro. According to Budget document, establishment expenditure and other committed liabilities are proposed to be increased Rs 43,600 crore in the approved Budget estimate.
