Delhi WCD dept readies draft of scheme offering

The women and child development department (WCD) of the Delhi government has prepared the draft of the scheme, Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, under which financial assistance of ₹1,000 per month will be given to the women of the city, officials aware of the development said on Friday.
According to the draft, those women who live in Delhi, earn below the income tax threshold and are not retired government employees will be eligible for the scheme. The draft of the scheme is likely to be reviewed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government before a final cabinet note is prepared and the proposal for the scheme is put up before the (chief minister) Arvind Kejriwal cabinet for consideration and approval.
In the 2024-25 budget presented in the Delhi assembly in March, finance minister Atishi unveiled the plan aimed at empowering the city’s women. In the budget, the government said that women living in Delhi and earning below the income tax threshold will be entitled to ₹1,000 a month from the government.
HT reached out to WCD minister Kailash Gahlot and the Delhi government, but did not get any response to requests for comments.
An official said that women and child development minister Kailash Gahlot held a meeting to review the progress of the scheme in July, following which the officials were directed to speed up work to give shape to the plan.
“During the process of preparing the draft of the scheme, we considered two similar schemes running in Maharashtra (Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahan Yojana) and in Madhya Pradesh (Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana),” said the official requesting anonymity.
In a similar scheme in MP, women in the age group 23-60 years receive ₹1,000 per month if they do not pay income tax and their annual family income is below ₹2.5 lakh. In Maharashtra, married, divorced and destitute women between the age group of 21 to 65 get ₹1,500 per month.
“The income criteria for women have been fixed at below the income tax threshold. Women who are government employees, pay income tax, or those availing benefits of any other government scheme or pension will not be eligible for the monthly financial assistance. The finer details of the eligibility criteria will be finalised after the comments of the finance department are taken. The aim is to ensure that the maximum number of women in the city get the benefit of the scheme,” said the official.
While unveiling the scheme, the government had said that it expects the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana will help five million women in the city, and this will in turn create additional demands in the market.
In the budget, the AAP government earmarked ₹2,000 crore for the financial assistance scheme for women.