 "women empowerment financial inclusion")
Leading political parties across the country have launched initiatives and campaigns underscoring the importance of women as a distinct support base to attract more female voters, days before International Women's Day on March 8.
On Monday, several district units of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised 'women marathons' to highlight Prime Minister Narendra Modi's contribution to "women-led development". According to sources, Modi is likely to reach out to women on March 8, and the BJP will showcase its central and state governments' pro-women schemes and policies, including the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill.
The prime minister is also scheduled to address a public meeting later this week in Basirhat, in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas to highlight the purported "atrocities" by Trinamool workers against women in Sandeshkhali. Women beneficiaries of the Centre's schemes are set to attend the meeting, in addition to the alleged victims of the Sandeshkhali incident.
On Monday, while presenting Delhi's Budget for 2024-25, Delhi Finance Minister Atishi announced the chief minister's 'Mahila Samman Yojana', under which the government will provide a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to women above 18 years. She allocated Rs 2,000 crore for the scheme. Taxpayers, government employees, or women availing themselves of benefits under any government scheme will not be eligible for the scheme.
According to the final electoral roll of Delhi published in January, there are 6.7 million women voters in the national capital. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal estimated 4-5 million women will benefit from the scheme. In Delhi, women commuters travel for free on the buses run by the city government.
On Monday, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced that his government will give an honorarium of Rs 1,500 to women aged between 18 and 60 years from the next financial year (FY25). Allowance to women was part of the Congress' '10 guarantees' for the hill state in the December 2022 Assembly polls. Sukhu said the government will spend Rs 800 crore on the 'Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana' which will benefit 500,000 women.
More From This Section
On Sunday, BJP's Asansol candidate for the Lok Sabha polls, Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh, announced his unavailability to contest after the Trinamool launched a campaign highlighting his "misogynistic" songs. On Monday, a day after an obscene video allegedly involving him surfaced on social media, BJP's Barabanki MP Upendra Singh Rawat said he will not contest any election till proven innocent. The BJP had re-fielded him on the seat on Saturday.
Women have emerged as a key support base for political parties. In the Delhi Assembly polls in 2020, the Aam Aadmi Party's win was attributed to the significant support it received from women, just like the Trinamool Congress’victory in the Bengal polls in 2021, the Congress’ win in the Karnataka Assembly polls in May 2023 and the BJP’s triumph in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls in December 2023. All these parties had either promised or announced pro-women schemes, such as Bengal's ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ and Madhya Pradesh's ‘Ladli Behna Yojna’.
