Ahead of the assembly elections later this year, the Maharashtra government may introduce a new scheme offering a monthly cash transfer of Rs 1,500 to women below the poverty line. The announcement can be expected during the ongoing monsoon session of the Maharashtra State Assembly, which will started today and will end on July 12.
The scheme, which may be introduced as part of the state budget, aims to benefit approximately one crore women across the state, a report on ET Now said.
There are several similar schemes in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The new scheme in Maharashtra appears to be inspired by the successful ‘Ladli Behna’ scheme in Madhya Pradesh.
In 2023, the Shinde government introduced the Lek Ladki scheme in the state budget that was meant for yellow and orange ration cards to educate their daughters. Additionally, the 2023-24 Budget announced a 50% travel concession for women on state transport buses.
In March 2024, the Shinde government unveiled a women’s policy that focused on eight objectives including health, education, ending gender-based violence, and encouraging the political participation of women.
Ladli Behna in Madhya Pradesh
Introduced by former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Ladli Behna Yojana initiative has become widely recognised and played a significant role in the BJP’s triumph in Madhya Pradesh, where the party successfully clinched all 29 Lok Sabha seats.
The program was meticulously designed to foster the economic independence and self-sufficiency of women throughout Madhya Pradesh. Initially, eligible recipients were granted a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 through this scheme. Subsequently, the monthly allowance provided under the program was augmented to Rs 1,250.
Approximately 94% of beneficiaries of Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Scheme fall within the 25-and-above age group, a Special Research Report by the Economic Department of the State Bank of India (SBI) said.
The report highlighted the scheme’s correlation with electoral success rates. For every 1% increase in Ladli Behna recipients, the incumbent party’s electoral success rate increased by 0.36%.
Notably, districts with high empowerment rates, through Ladli Behna, witnessed overwhelming victories for the incumbent party in the 2023 elections.
“1% increase in empowerment of marginalised women in a district through Ladli Behna has resulted into 0.04% increase in additional female voter turnout in 2023 in a district (in comparison to female voter turnout in 2018). Juxtaposing this, it has been estimated that around 70% (around 3.67 lakh) of additional female voters (around 5.25 lakh) in 2023 elections voted are primarily attributable to the Ladli Behna scheme,” the report said.
Lakshmir Bhandar scheme in West Bengal
Launched by the Government of West Bengal, led by Mamata Banerjee, in February 2021, the scheme aims to empower women and make them financially independent by providing them with a one-time grant to buy essential goods and services.
Initially, the West Bengal government offered women head of a household belonging to SC and ST category a sum of Rs 1,000 per month. Women head of a household belonging to other categories got Rs 500 per month.
In the recent budget presentation, the West Bengal Government raised the amount to Rs. 1,200 per month for the SC and ST category and Rs. 1,000 per monthfor an category.
For the next fiscal, Lakshmir Bhandar scheme has been allocated a sum of Rs 14,400.05 crore to meet the promised monthly support.
Besides this, the West Bengal government had also launched the Kanyashree scheme, which provides annual scholarships for girl students. An amount of Rs 1,374.50 crore has been allocated for this for FY2024-25.
