Haryana to implement Deen Dayal Lado Lakshmi 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 Lado Lakshmi 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 Lado Lakshmi 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 Rs 2,100 financial assistance 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.

To take benefit of the scheme, an unmarried woman or if she is married then her husband needs to be Haryana domiciled for 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 this scheme, Saini said.

The day an unmarried beneficiary completes 45 years of age, she will automatically become eligible for the Widow and Destitute Women Financial Assistance Scheme of the government, he said.

The day the married beneficiary woman turns 60 years of age, she will automatically become eligible for the Old Age Samman Allowance Pension Scheme, he said.

Today, the cabinet decided to implement the scheme for women's social security and respect, he said, adding, "We will not only make the gazette notification of the scheme, but will also launch an app".

Through this app, eligible beneficiary women can apply for this scheme from home.

The list of all eligible women will be published in all panchayats and wards, he said.

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

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

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

Taking a dig at the Congress, he said, "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. 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 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 DV DV