It was a super sop Sunday in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. Ahead of Raksha Bandhan festival, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hiked the monthly cash assistance under flagship ‘Ladli Behna’ scheme to Rs 1,250 from the current Rs 1,000. He added the hiked assistance will be given to beneficiaries from the month of October.
He also transferred an additional Rs 250 to the account of each Ladli Behna beneficiary as a ‘Shagun’ (token) for Raksha Bandhan and said that they would get a domestic gas cylinder for Rs 450 for the Hindu month of Sawan.
Addressing a Ladli Behna convention at Jamboree ground in Bhopal, the chief minister further promised that efforts will be made to provide domestic cylinders at Rs 450 in future too. Also, the power bill of the beneficiaries for the month of September will be zero as the bills with recently hiked tariff will not be collected from them. Arrangements will be made so that the poor women have to pay just Rs 100 in future, the CM said.
The chief minister had already hinted about making such an announcement about a fortnight back and has called it a ‘Rakhi gift’ for his sisters in the state. The Raksha Bandhan festival celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters wherein sisters tie Rakhi thread to brothers who promise to safeguard them and also give them gifts on the occasion. Chouhan decided to use this symbolic occasion to announce the hike in the cash assistance scheme.
The CM has been repeatedly saying that slowly the cash assistance under the Ladli Behna scheme will be increased to Rs 3,000 per month – the hike being Rs 250 at a time.
Chouhan’s promise of hiked assistance was made after the Congress announced its own poll promise of Rs 1,500 monthly assistance to women ahead of the launch of the Ladli Behna scheme of the BJP government. The Rs 450 cylinder announcement (though one time as of now) also looks like a counter to the Congress’s poll promise of cylinders for Rs 500.
In more sops for women, the chief minister announced that 35 per cent of posts in police and other government jobs will be reserved for women and 50 pc will be reserved in teaching posts. Currently, women have a 30 per cent reservation in police recruitment in the state.
Chouhan also said that if more than 50 per cent women of an area opposed, liquor shops will not be opened in such areas. He also announced that the education fees of all the Ladli Behna beneficiaries will be borne by the government; these women will get bank loans with the government paying the interest and lands will be reserved for them in industrial areas to help them take up entrepreneurship.
The chief minister said that safety, honour and empowerment of women were the priority [of the government] and the above steps were in that direction, and added that the government has passed a law for the death sentence to rapists. “It is my dream to make my sisters lakhpatis (earning a minimum of Rs 1 lakh a year),” he said. He also highlighted that all these benefits were equally being given to all his sisters – be they Hindu, Muslims or of any other religion.
Women, who constitute about 48 per cent of the 5.39 crores total voters in Madhya Pradesh, at 2.60 crores, are considered a crucial segment and the Chouhan-led BJP government has always wooed them accordingly. This year, women voters are in special focus and the Ladli Behna scheme is being considered a game-changer for the Chouhan government which is facing a huge anti-incumbency of 18 years.
Congress’s 11 guarantees
Even as the chief minister was addressing the convention in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief and ex-chief minister came out with a statement, increasing the number of poll guarantees to 11. The Congress had till now highlighted six poll guarantees in the state.
The guarantees include Rs 1,500 monthly cash assistance to women, domestic gas cylinder for Rs 500, free 100 units of power and another 200 units at half rate, crop loan waiver for farmers, old pension scheme for government employees, free power for irrigation pumps up to 5 horsepower, waiver of pending power bills for irrigation, 27 per cent reservation for other backward classes (OBC), caste-based census, 12 hours of assured power supply for irrigation and retraction of police cases related to farmers’ agitation.
In his statement, Nath said that the people of Madhya Pradesh had been listening to false announcements and promises of Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the past 18 years. “The person who has made 22,000 false announcements in the past 18 years is again making false announcements for the next two months. I have come forth with 11 guarantees for you. These are not mere announcements but guarantees to make Madhya Pradesh a ‘Mahaan pradesh’ (great state).
Nath also said that the BJP government and the chief minister were not changing their stance every day for relief to people, but to save their own sinking ship. “If a party has to play electoral games even after being for 18 years in rule, then that party is artificial, ostentatious and merely decorative and can never work in the interest of the people.”
