Jharkhand, Haryana, Maharashtra line up cash transfers for women
assembly elections, the state governments of Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana are readying to launch direct cash transfer schemes for women this month.
The practice started with the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh last year and since then, the parties in power have relied on cash handouts to women voters in a bid to stay in power.
In Maharashtra, the Eknath Shinde-led government has announced the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme, under which women in the age group of 21-60 years will get ₹1,500 per month. Following the debacle in the Lok Sabha election, the state government has set aside Rs 25,000 crore for the scheme. It has planned to credit the first two instalments for July and August before Raksha Bandhan, which falls on August 19.
So far, about 12.9 million beneficiaries have been verified and the amount will be transferred to the accounts of these women, said people in the know. The government wanted the scheme to get going before the announcement of polls scheduled in October-November this year, they said.
In Jharkhand, the Hemant Soren-led JMM-Congress government has announced the Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana, under which women in the age group of 21-50 years will get ₹1,000 every month in their bank accounts. It had earlier announced a monthly pension of ₹ 1,000 for women aged 50 years and above.
The registration for the new scheme is going on and about 3 million registrations have been done, according to state officials. The state government aims to provide the benefits to 4.5 million
