Delhi women to get Rs 2,100 per month if AAP wins elections: Kejriwal

Women have been a key support base for the AAP, having voted in greater numbers than men for the party in the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced the launch of the Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana under which a monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 will be given to eligible women of Delhi.

 

Kejriwal promised the amount would be raised to Rs 2,100 if his party wins the upcoming Assembly polls. The term of the Delhi Assembly expires on February 23, and the fresh polls to the 70-member Assembly are likely to be held in mid-February.

 

He said the Rs 1,000 allowance will be credited to the accounts of beneficiaries after the polls. Kejriwal said the Delhi Cabinet led by Chief Minister Atishi approved the scheme and women can begin their registration from Friday.

 

 

Atishi, as Delhi’s finance minister, initially announced the scheme in the 2024-25 Delhi Budget. The Rs 76,000 crore surplus Budget allocated Rs 2,000 crore to the scheme for an estimated 5 million beneficiaries since its expected rollout in October 2024.

 

 She had then told Business Standard that the allocation for a full financial year would be Rs 6,000 crore, which would double if the next government increased the allowance to Rs 2,100.

 

Women have been a key support base for the AAP and voted in greater numbers than men for the party in the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls. The AAP government’s other pro-women schemes include free bus rides for women.

 

As many as 12 states - including Assam, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha - have schemes that provide monthly stipends to women.  

 

The governments in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, where Assembly polls concluded in November, announced similar allowances for women in the run-up to the polls. Both incumbent governments returned with bigger majorities, with exit poll data suggesting that women voted for these alliances in greater numbers. Apart from Delhi, the governments in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir could also roll out similar schemes with the ruling parties promising it in their respective manifestos.

 

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Assembly on Thursday passed the second supplementary Budget of Rs 11,697.45 crore for the 2024-25 financial year, which allocated a maximum outlay of Rs 6,390.55 crore to the Maiya Samman Yojana. Under this scheme, the state government initially provided Rs 1,000 per month to women between the age group of 18 and 50 years. The amount has been increased to Rs 2,500 per month from December.