Haryana to implement 'Deen Dayal Laado Laxmi Yojana', eligible women to get Rs 2,100 monthly aid

Chandigarh, Aug 28 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday said the 'Deen Dayal Laado Laxmi Yojana' will be implemented from September 25 under which eligible women will be given Rs 2,100 monthly assistance, fulfilling a key poll promise of the ruling BJP.

Saini announced the decision after a meeting of the Haryana Cabinet, in which the single-agenda relating to the implementation of the scheme was approved.

The Cabinet took a decision to implement the 'Deen Dayal Laado Laxmi Yojana', Saini said.

"This scheme will be implemented from September 25, on the day of Deendayal Upadhyaya's (a key party ideologue) birth anniversary," he said.

Under this scheme, all eligible women beneficiaries will get a financial assistance of Rs 2,100 every month, Saini said.

From September 25, women aged 23 years and above will get benefits of this scheme. Be it married or unmarried, both categories will get benefit of the scheme, he said.

In the first phase of this scheme rollout, we have decided to include those families whose annual income is below Rs 1 lakh, Saini said.

"We estimate that about 19-20 lakh women will get the benefit of this scheme in the first phase," Saini said.

In the coming time, this scheme will be expanded in phases to include more income categories, the CM said.

Saini, who also holds the finance portfolio, had earmarked Rs 5,000 crore for Rs 2,100 monthly assistance to women under 'Lado Laxmi Yojana' in the budget for 2025-26.

To avail benefits under this scheme, it will be mandatory for the unmarried applicant, or the husband in the case of a married applicant, to be a resident of Haryana for the last 15 years. There is no cap on the number of women in one family. If in any family three women are eligible, then all the three will get benefit of the scheme, Saini said.

However, beneficiaries who are already covered under any of the following nine schemes -- ”Old Age Samman Allowance, Financial Assistance to Widows and Destitute Women, Haryana Divyang Pension, Ladli Social Security Allowance, Financial Assistance to Kashmiri Migrants Families, Allowance to Dwarfs, Financial Assistance to Women and Girls Acid Attack Victims, Financial Assistance to Widower and Unmarried Persons Scheme 2023, and Haryana Gaurav Samman Scheme for the Padma Awardees -- and are receiving a higher financial assistance, will not be entitled to benefits under the 'Deen Dayal Laado Laxmi Yojana'.

However, it was decided in the Cabinet that applicants suffering from stage three and four cancer, any of the 54 listed rare diseases, as well as hemophilia, thalassemia, and sickle cell disease, who are already receiving pension benefits, will be entitled to the additional benefit of the scheme.

Once an unmarried beneficiary completes 45 years of age, she will automatically become eligible for the financial assistance scheme for widows and destitute women. Similarly, upon attaining the age of 60 years, the beneficiary will automatically qualify for the Old Age Samman Allowance Pension scheme.

The Cabinet decided to implement the scheme for women's social security and respect, Saini said.

In the coming days, along with the gazette notification of the scheme, a dedicated mobile application will also be launched for registration.

Eligible women will be able to register themselves through this app.

In addition, every potentially eligible woman will receive an SMS notification informing her of her eligibility and guiding her to apply on the app, the chief minister said.

The list of all eligible women will be published in every panchayat and ward. Further, gram sabhas and ward sabhas will be empowered to raise and register any objections regarding the published lists.

Ahead of the October 2024 Haryana polls, the BJP had promised Rs 2,100 to women as monthly assistance if the party returned to power.

Speaking with reporters after the Cabinet meeting here, Saini, who was flanked by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Krishan Kumar Bedi among other ministers, asserted that the BJP fulfils the promises it makes.

Taking a dig at the Congress, he said, "The Congress brings 'ghoshna patra', but when it assumes power, it forgets it and throws that into the dustbin.

"They say one thing, but do another and the net result is zero. The same position is of AAP in Punjab. AAP in Punjab had promised before polls that women will be given monthly financial assistance. More than three-and-a-half years have passed, but they have failed to fulfil that promise. Now, when the next polls (in Punjab) come, they will again come up with some promises," Saini said.

Referring to the fulfilling of the BJP's poll promise made to women, Saini said there are no polls upcoming in Haryana, but it was their commitment which the government is fulfilling now. "Today's special Cabinet meeting had this single agenda," he said.

Saini said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the "double-engine government" is continuously running welfare schemes in the interest of the poor and the needy, he said.

The BJP government at the Centre is regularly implementing new schemes to empower and strengthen women, he said. PTI SUN MNK MNK