Ladli Behna Yojana not a freebie, but a social revolution, says MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan — Read Details

On June 10, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Shivraj Singh Chouhan commonly referred to as ‘Mama’ in the state launched the prestigious ‘Ladli Behna Yojna’ at Jabalpur, the Sanskardhani of MP. As per the benefit scheme data as many as 1.20 Crore women of the state received Rs 1000 each. With 6 lakhs remaining to receive it by the weekend.

Soon after Chouhan announced the scheme the opposition party in the state, Congress promised a sum of Rs 1,500 to every woman in the state per month.

It is pertinent to mention that, this is not the only scheme in the state benefitting women, there are a number of such schemes launched previously as well. From Ladli Lakshmi to Ladli Behna the stalwart fourth-term CM said, the scheme is not a freebie, as termed by the opposition but a ‘social revolution’ for the state’s women.

Starting with ‘Nari tu Narayani, Jag ki palan Harini’ the CM said the motive of the scheme is to provide ‘Financial independence’ to the women with an overall idea of attaining ‘Financial inclusion’ set by the government of India. The scheme also aims to provide a decision-making role to the women in the family.

Before the launch of the event, Chouhan while speaking with Organiser said, “When we lost the state assembly elections of 2018, the Congress party shut down several beneficial schemes like Baiga, Bhariya, Sahariya scheme as per which, we handed over Rs 1000 to the women belonging to these tribes of the state. This scheme had miraculous results as these women were facing malnutrition and other health ailments as they belong to an extremely backward class. The Kamalnath government scrapped the scheme but when I came back to power, I asked for an impact assessment and found that the level of nutrition among the women has significantly risen up, they have started burying and eating vegetables, pulses, milk etc. With the significant success of the scheme, I thought the benefit of the scheme must not limit to these tribes only, I must help all my sisters belonging to all the low-income groups and then the idea of the ‘Ladli Behna Scheme’ was conceived on January 28, 2023.”

Talking about different schemes, Chouhan said, “When I came to power the male-to-female sex ratio was 1000: 911, and people considered daughters as a liability. I thought as long as the families will consider them a liability, daughters will not be born, the I framed the Ladli Lakshmi Yojna in 2006. This scheme did wonders as a stipulated amount was to be transferred to the account of the family having daughters, till she turns 18, including her schooling fees,”

“Then I brought the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Viviah Scheme, as many families considered daughters as a burden due to the expenses incurred in their marriage and dowry. To empower the daughters of the state, I made sure they are well represented in the local body elections so, I provided them 50 percent reservation, to strengthen their economic status, I provided them 30 percent reservation in the police services. I also bought an ordinance stating the stamp duty charge for women will be 1 percent and hence there has been a significant rise in registrations of 45 percent,” he said.

Chouhan shared, “Madhya Pradesh has become the only state to provide 30 percent reservation to women in police services, under the BJP government the percentage of women in the local body elections rose to a whopping 56%,” He said.

“For the poor sisters we give them Rs 4000 when she is pregnant, the sum rises to Rs 12,000 when she gives birth either to a boy or a girl. Through Sambal Yojna we provide bicycles to female children, there are many such schemes for women in the state. The Ladli Behna Yojna is just an add-on to this chain of schemes for the betterment of my sister’s future. It was not cooked overnight,” he added.

The sex ratio in the state rose to 956 females for every 1000 males, this is the impact of the schemes brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, said the CM.

Asked how is he going to deal with the rising anti-incumbency in the state, he said, he is not facing any anti-incumbency and even if there is any the ‘Modi Magic’ will win him the elections again.

At the event filled with much glitz and fanfare, the CM announced that transferring Rs 1,000 under the scheme is just the beginning. “We have just started now, but we will increase this sum by Rs 250 every time till we reach Rs 3000. Also, as promised earlier the age limit was 23 to 60 years but from now on if a woman is married at the age of 21, she too will be eligible for the benefit” Chouhan told a thousand of people assembled at the event in Jabalpur.

“I am promising this to all the women in a family, if there are three bahus, then you are getting ₹36,000 per year in one family alone, not to mention the Rs 1000 in pension that the mother-in-law will get,” Chauhan said.

The Scheme

Ladli Behna Scheme was announced to be launched by the CM on January 28, 2023, in the whole state. On February 25, the cabinet approved the scheme at the meeting. The scheme will have a share of the budget costing around Rs 8,000 crore per year. On March 5, the scheme registration started at the state’s capital, Bhopal and the official transfer was made on June 10 from Sanskardhani, Jabalpur.

All the females of a family income group less than Rs 2.5 Lakh per annum, having less than 5 acres of land and zero four wheels will be provided with the monthly direct benefit transfer.

It is pertinent to mention here that the population of the state is 8,50,02,417 (8 Crore), out of which 4,09,82,522 (4 Crore) are females and the rest are male. The scheme proposes to benefit as many as 1,00,00,000 (1 Crore) females of the state and till the launch day, the government received 1, 25,06,186 (1.25 Crore).

Apart from these figures what is noteworthy and alarming is that, as per the National Family and Health Survey around 23% of females have low BMI (Body and Mass Index) than desired. The women labour in the state is 23% (rural areas) and 13.6% (urban areas). With this around 54% women of age 15 to 49 years of age are struggling with anemia. The CM of the state with financial assistance of Rs 1,000 per month wishes to better the situation of women in the state, be it unorganised labour, medical illnesses or abuse in the family.

The beneficiaries

This correspondent spoke to some of the beneficiaries present at the event, they said they were all happy with the benefit and will use the sum wisely.

Lakshmi Gond (36) who lives in Jabalpur came to support her brother (CM Chouhan, as she said) for his exceptional support to the women. She was happy with the scheme and said, “I will save this money every year to make sure I gift my daughter things she wants. This assistance will give us power,” she added.

The other beneficiary was 50-year-old Mamta Lodhi, a resident of the Bheetha area in Bhedaghat has a son who does nothing, her husband passed away some years ago and so she will be using this money to help her son and his family with their monthly expenses. She added, “I also get the Vidhwa pension, a sum of Rs 600 from the government”.

Another woman Jyoti Vanvasi, works as a labour and supports her husband who too is a labourer in looking after their children. She is also a beneficiary of the Ladli Lakshmi Yojna. She will save the money for her daughter’s future.

Savita Soni, a beneficiary from Jabalpur said, she will be using the money to buy things for herself, she will not have to ask her husband for every small expanse. She was happy as the CM was going to expand the limit and assured to pay Rs 3000 in the coming years.

Another Beneficiary Nasreen Bano, a resident of Jabalpur said, “Rs 1000 is enough to manage her expenses in a month and she was happy with the launch. Additionally, she said, she will be voting Shivraj back to power not because of the scheme but because everything has been on track under the BJP government,” she said.

Other beneficiaries Keshkali Vishwakarma, Shikha Verma, Geeta Sahu, Bhavna Sen and others also had similar opinions about the scheme. Some of these women were benefitting from the self-help groups and the Samuh loan system.

The highlight of the scheme is its transparency, notably after all the applications are received a list of beneficiaries will be installed at each village/ ward level. Objections of the approval of the applications will be received in writing at the gram panchayat/ward office through application and portals or through CM’s helpline for the next 15 days.

Am ‘Objection Disposal Committee’ will be set up to dispose of these objections within 15 days with dedicated documentation proofs. After the objection committee is done with the objection letters, a final list of the beneficiaries will be displayed again.

Other women-centric schemes in the state

Mukhyamantri Ladli Lakshmi Yojna: This scheme provides financial assistance to the girl child in her education from day one in the school. Launched in 2007, the scheme provides a sum of Rs 1,43,000 to the beneficiary covering the primary education the beneficiaries are provided with a dedicated amount from time to time. From 2007 to date, as many as 45 Lakh girls have been registered to the scheme. The motive of the scheme is to reduce and ultimately stop child marriages. The state provides a tag of ‘Ladli Lakshmi friendly’ village or panchayat as per their performance in areas including 100 per cent attendance of girls in the school, zero per cent child marriage, zero per cent malnutrition and no crime against females in the region.

In 2022, CM Chouhan launched the Ladli Lakhsmi 2.0 scheme to provide financial assistance to the girls of the state in Higher Education. In November Chouhan also transferred a total of Rs 1.85 crore into the bank accounts of 1,477 Ladli Laxmi scheme beneficiary girls to enable them to pursue higher education.

Lado Abhiyan: This campaign was launched in 2013 to stop child marriage. To make sure the volunteers are trained well and the message is disseminated in the society well different teams were made at the school, village, block, district and divisional levels. In 2015-16 as many as 97 thousand child marriages were stopped through counselling.

Shaurya Dal: soon after the Nirbhaya Case of Delhi the Chief Minister started the Shaurya Dal in the state in 2013. The motive of the campaign is to identify and spot the crime against women at the user end, the idea is to rectify and control the crime against women and punish the perpetrators even before they can go beyond limits. As many as 19.24 females are members of these Sahuarya Dal, out of which minors are 7.95.

Udita Scheme: As per this scheme the officials at the Anganwadi and block level installed Udita Cornevr to prove sanitary napkins and spread awareness about Menstruation among the deprived sections of society.

Chief Minister Naari Samman Fund: A sum of Rs 100 crore was deposited to this fund by the CM to install self-help groups and bring job opportunities to the women living in the village, these schemes and opportunities are linked to the SAMAST portal. These women can get loans for 2 per cent interest.

Sakhi Centre: The CM installed a safe house for women struggling with domestic violence called Sakhi or One Stop Centre in different districts of the state. As many as 56 one-stop centres have been installed in 52 districts of the state till date.

Other than these schemes a number of them have been initiated in the state under the BJP government. From Vridhha Pension (Rs 300 per month), Divyang pension (Rs 600 per month), Vidhwa pension (Rs 600 per month), Pradhan Mantri Mantra Vandana Yojna (Rs 5000 per month), Kalyani Vivah Yojna (Rs 2 Lakh), pension facility to the parents of the single girl child (Rs 600 per month), Medhavi Yojna (Rs 25,000 on scoring first division in class 12) and others are active in the state.

It is worth mentioning that women are an important electorate in the state, and they account for 48% of the state’s 5.39 crore voters. The state assembly elections are scheduled to take place in the coming year.