Shimla: With about a year left for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government Friday approved a scheme to provide Rs 1,500 monthly assistance to 3.50 lakh women in the state.
The scheme, named Mukhya Mantri Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar Yojana, was approved at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sukhu in Shimla. Under the scheme, eligible women aged between 18 and 59 will receive Rs 1,500 per month. Their families will also be entitled to 300 units of free electricity every month.
The monthly financial assistance alone will put an additional burden of Rs 52.5 crore a month on the Himachal Pradesh exchequer, translating to an annual expenditure of Rs 630 crore. On top of this will come the expenditure for the free electricity.
The decision comes as the Congress government moves to fulfil one of its key pre-poll guarantees. The party had promised Rs 1,500 every month to every adult woman in Himachal Pradesh, aged between 18 and 60 years. According to the figures from the 2022 Assembly elections, the state had 27,37,845 women voters out of a total electorate of 55,92,828.
However, after coming to power in December 2022, the government introduced eligibility conditions, restricting the benefit to women who meet its criteria for financial assistance.
In March 2024, the government launched the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana, initially extending the Rs 1,500 monthly assistance to women in the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti. The scheme was subsequently opened to applications from other parts of the state, but with several eligibility restrictions.
The government excluded families in which members were already receiving government salaries or pensions. Within the first year of implementation, just over 30,000 women had benefited from the scheme, according to government figures.
A senior government official told ThePrint that now 3.50 lakh women have been shortlisted so far and would be covered under the newly approved scheme.
“The identified families will also receive 300 units of free electricity every month. However, the government does not have the financial resources to extend such benefits to everyone. Funds scarcity has prevented the government from rolling out the scheme universally,” the official said.
Women above 60 years of age already receive Rs 1,500 per month under the state’s social security pension scheme, the official added.
The electricity component is also narrower than the Congress party’s original pre-poll promise of providing 300 units of free electricity to every household. Under the newly approved scheme, the benefit will be linked to families identified as eligible for financial assistance.
Fresh burden on stressed state finances
The new financial commitment comes against the backdrop of mounting pressure on the state’s finances, with a substantial share of its resources going towards salaries, pensions and interest payments.
According to the 2026-27 Budget Estimates, Himachal Pradesh has projected a total expenditure of Rs 54,928 crore, including debt repayments. The state’s fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs 9,698 crore, or 3.5 percent of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). The revenue deficit is projected at Rs 6,577 crore.
The state’s outstanding liabilities are estimated at around Rs 1 lakh crore by the end of the current financial year, equivalent to approximately 40.5 percent of its GSDP.
The government has budgeted Rs 16,603 crore towards salaries, Rs 11,766 crore towards pensions and Rs 7,272 crore towards interest payments on its borrowings. Together, these three heads account for Rs 35,641 crore, nearly 88 percent of the state’s estimated revenue receipts of Rs 40,361 crore.
This leaves limited flexibility for the government to meet other expenditure commitments, including infrastructure development and new welfare schemes. The additional Rs 630 crore annual commitment under the women’s assistance scheme, along with the electricity subsidy, will add to the state’s recurring expenditure.
Congress’s ten pre-poll guarantees
The Congress had announced ten major guarantees during the run-up to the 2022 Assembly elections, promising to implement them after coming to power.
These included restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), Rs 1,500 monthly assistance to women aged 18 to 60 years, 300 units of free electricity to every household and employment for five lakh youth.
The other promises included allowing orchardists to decide the prices of their fruit produce, a Rs 680-crore start-up fund for young entrepreneurs, mobile health clinics to provide free treatment in villages, four English-medium schools in every Assembly constituency, procurement of 10 litres of milk daily from cow and buffalo owners and purchase of cow dung at Rs 2 per kg.
The restoration of the Old Pension Scheme was among the first major promises implemented by the Congress government. However, several other guarantees have seen partial implementation, delays or changes in their proposed scope.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)