(Eds: Recasting overnight story) Bhopal, Mar 5 (PTI) Months ahead of the crucial Assembly elections, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will launch a welfare scheme on Sunday wherein eligible women will get a monthly assistance of Rs 1,000.
At least one lakh women from urban and rural areas from various parts of the state are expected to take part in the function to be held at Jamboree Maidan in the state capital later in the day, officials said.
With the launch of the ‘Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Scheme’, the government aims to reach out to one crore women in the state for which a provision of Rs 8,000 crore has been made in the Budget presented recently.
Under this scheme, women will be given Rs 1,000 assistance per month with certain riders, including that they are not Income Tax payees, as per a government official.
“The government will launch the scheme on Sunday (which happens to be the birthday of Chouhan) by filling out a form or two. After a pause due to the Holi festival, potential beneficiaries can submit forms from March 15 to April 30,” officials said.
After scrutiny, a list of beneficiaries will be put out on May 1 and the final list on May 31, they added.
The beneficiaries will start receiving financial aid in their accounts from June 10 and every month thereafter.
In the recently-tabled Rs 3.14 lakh crore Budget, the state government provisioned Rs 1.02 lakh crore for women, up by 22 per cent from the last budget.
Women whose annual family income is below Rs 2.5 lakh are expected to reap the benefits of the Ladli Behna Yojana, the officials said.
The number of women voters in Madhya Pradesh is 2,60,23,733, and in at least 18 of the 230 Assembly segments in MP, they outnumber male voters. These include tribal-dominated Balaghat, Mandla, Dindori, Alirajpur and Jhabua districts.
The number of new women voters has gone up by 2.79 per cent, while it is 2.30 per cent for male voters, officials said.
Of the 13.39 lakh new voters, 7.07 lakh are women, they added.
The BJP lost the 2018 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh against the Congress after 15 years in power.
However, 15 months later, it captured power when 22 MLAs of Congress rebelled, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led government. PTI LAL NSK BNM BNM BNM
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