Assembly results may spur demand for bigger cash transfer scheme for women

For those in the government committed to the idea of fiscal prudence, the challenges have got a little more difficult

There is now near unanimity among those who have analysed the results of Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand that women power in electoral politics has witnessed a new dimension. It is no longer a question of promising welfare schemes or cash transfers to voters. Targeting such benefits at women voters in particular seems to have begun yielding better electoral outcomes for those political parties that announce them in good time.

 

Just a few months before the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Eknath Shinde government launched the Ladki Bahin scheme in August 2024, providing Rs 1,500 each month to over