Playing down the potential impact of Congress’ ‘Nari Nyay’ guarantees for women on the upcoming Lok Sabha election, Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma said that it was about “faith and not statistics” regarding such assurances.
The Minister was replying to a query by The Hindu on the sidelines of a press conference addressed by five Chhattisgarh ministers on the completion of three months of the Vishnu Deo Sai-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State.
While the Ministers had described the Mahtari Vandan Yojana, a financial assistance scheme for married women, as a major achievement so far, the ‘Nari Nyay’ scheme announced on Wednesday bundles several benefits, including higher cash incentives, for women at the national level.
Under the Mahtari Vandan Yojana eligible married women get ₹1,000 every month. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 11. Two days later, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi announced an annual deposit of ₹1 lakh into the bank accounts of poor women, and 50% reservation in all new recruitments in Central government jobs if his party was voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Earlier, speaking on the Mahtari Vandan Yojana scheme at the press conference, Mr. Sharma had said that although the Congress had promised a higher amount [₹15,000 annually] for women in last year’s Assembly election than the BJP [₹12,000], the voters reposed faith on his party and not their opponents.
“You will remember that the previous government had said in its manifesto [2018] that every woman would be given ₹500 every month. The tenure of the entire government ended but nothing was ever done. Now you will see that this promise was made in the government of Vishnu Deo ji that ₹1,000 will be given to mothers and sisters in the name of women, that is, ₹12,000 will be given every year, then by implementing Mahtari Vandan Yojana. The first instalment was paid to more than 70 lakh mothers and sisters after making provisions in its budget,” Mr. Sharma said.
On the State Congress’ allegations that there were lakhs of women who had missed out on the payments under the Mahtari Vandan Yojana, Finance Minister O.P. Choudhary said that according to the data shared by the National Payments Corporation of India, more than 69 lakh women had received the payments.
