As Madhya Pradesh election nears, one-third of Budget set aside for women

Women centric-budget in election year

During Madhya Pradesh’s Budget in the election year, special attention has been given to half the population — that is, women.

One-third of the Budget of Rs 3.14 trillion — that is, about Rs 1.02 trillion — is for women.

For instance, for the first year of ‘Laadli Behna’, a new scheme that will give Rs 1,000 per month to women, has been budgeted at Rs 8,000 crore.

Recently, the state Cabinet had approved the scheme, under which Rs 1,000 will be deposited in the bank accounts of every woman in the age group of 23-60 years.

The biggest reason for the focus on women is the Assembly polls to be held in December.

Out of the about 54 million voters in the state, 26 million are women.

Among the 13,40,000 newly-added voters this year, more than 700,000 are women.

The importance of women voters in the upcoming Assembly elections can be gauged from the fact that immediately after the Budget, former chief minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath said that if his government comes to power, women will be given Rs 1,500 per month.

Apart from this, ‘Mukhyamantri Balika Scooty scheme’ has been announced, under which the government will give e-scooties to girl students, who get first class in higher secondary examinations. Although, the amount set aside for this has not been announced.

In other schemes related to women and girls, a provision of Rs 929 crore for Ladli Laxmi scheme and Rs 1,000 crore for interest subsidy to self-employed women has been kept in the Budget.

Economic affairs expert CA Jai Nagpal says that schemes like ‘Ladli Behna’ cannot be considered a freebie as economic empowerment of women is still a major challenge in Madhya Pradesh.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed it as a Budget for the upliftment of women and building a self-reliant Madhya Pradesh.