Delhi CM Rekha Gupta approves Rs 2,500 per month scheme for women

New Delhi: Fulfilling the ruling BJP’s flagship Assembly election promise, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday approved a scheme for providing Rs 2,500 monthly financial assistance to eligible women.

The scheme was approved by a Cabinet meeting chaired by CM Gupta, who had called it “Modi ki Guarantee”.

The scheme is estimated to benefit 15-20 lakh women between 18-60 years from families with an annual income of up to Rs 3 lakh, with a special focus on Below Poverty Line (BPL) sections.

As per the draft eligibility criterion, a beneficiary should be a resident of Delhi for the past five years and have a bank account linked to a Aadhaar number.

The beneficiaries will be able to register online and the software will have multi-level antecedent verification to keep out “bogus or fake” beneficiaries like the Union government’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) programme.

On Wednesday, CM Gupta held a dialogue with women at Delhi Assembly to get their opinion on the women’s financial assistance scheme and other issues, including security, sanitation, education and women’s increased participation in governance.

She said the BJP government is committed to deliver the monthly Rs 2,500 each to women and slammed the AAP for its failed attempt to build pressure on the scheme’s timeline. “We will work as per our agenda, they do not need to dictate anything,” she said after the meeting.

The suggestions given by women are likely to be incorporated in Delhi Budget 2025-26, scheduled to be presented from March 24-26.

The Chief Minister also launched a WhatsApp number 9999962025 for crowd sourcing ideas for the Budget which will be a first by a BJP government in Delhi after 27 years.

CM Gupta said the objective of public dialogue on the Budget is to develop ‘Viksit Delhi’ with public cooperation.

Earlier, BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam hit out at AAP leaders for doubting the BJP government’s commitment to launch the women financial assistance scheme.

“The AAP leaders should tell us when will Arvind Kejriwal fulfil his three-year-old promise to Punjab women of giving them monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000,” Gautam said.
IANS