AAP resumes Jai Bhim, Farishtey Yojanas, accuses BJP of stalling them

AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced the resumption of Jai Bhim Yojana and Farishtey Yojana and accused the BJP of deliberately stalling these initiatives after his imprisonment.

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said that the Jai Bhim Yojana was one of his government's major efforts to ensure equal education opportunities for underprivileged children.

The scheme provides for financial assistance to students from SC, ST, OBC, and economically weaker sections for coaching in IITs and civil services exams.

"Coaching for IIT and civil services is very expensive. Our responsibility is to provide equal opportunity for poor children, and this scheme was started to fulfil that purpose. However, after I went to jail, it was deliberately stalled. Today, we are restarting the scheme," Kejriwal said.

The scheme will continue to offer a Rs 2,500 stipend to each student and there will be no cap on the number of beneficiaries, Kejriwal said. "We believe the government's money should be spent on education, and we do not put limits on this spending."

Farishtey, the other scheme reinstated, provides for free treatment to road accident victims in any hospital, including private ones.

According to Kejriwal, the scheme saved 26,000 lives before it was stalled. "We saved many lives through this scheme, and we will ensure it continues to serve Delhi's citizens," he said.

Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, who was present at the press conference, hailed the party leader and the two schemes.

"The Chief Minister Jai Bhim Yojana was stalled by hatching a conspiracy to send Arvind Kejriwal to jail. But all these conspiracies failed in front of Arvind Kejriwal's vision of uplifting the children of poor and deprived classes through education," she wrote in a post on X later.