Women to get ₹1.5k monthly aid in HP, notification issued

Women in age group of 18-60 under the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana to get assistance: Officials

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government issued a notification on Thursday for granting a financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month to women in the age bracket between 18 and 60 years under the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana.

Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on March 4 announced that the state government will give Rs 1,500 per month to women and said Rs 800 crore would be spent on the initiative, benefitting more than five lakh women annually.

According to the notification, income-tax payers, women monks permanently staying in monasteries, family members of employees, pensioners of central and state governments, and employees of panchayati raj institutions, local bodies, and the public sector undertakings of the state and central governments will be entitled to the compensation.

Contractual employees, outsourced employees, daily wagers, part-time employees, ex-servicemen and their widows, anganwadi workers and helpers, Asha workers, mid-day meal workers, multi-task workers and beneficiaries of social security pension have been excluded from the benefits of Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana.

Giving Rs 1,500 monthly to women was one of the 10 “guarantees” given by the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur had accused Sukhu of misleading women as the Congress had promised to give Rs 1,500 per month to women in the age group of 18 to 60 years. There are around 22 lakh women in the said age group in Himachal.

BJP state president Rajeev Bindal in a statement issued here today accused Sukhu of resorting to diversionary tactics.

“For the last few days, the chief minister has started the work of diverting the public attention from the real issues. Congress party de-notified the institutions set up by the BJP government,” said Bindal

He said, “On the one hand, the Congress government made a hue and cry about false guarantees but on the other hand, it was attempting to divert the attention of the public by introducing false guarantees”.

“The financial aid to women is a false guarantee just ahead of general elections to the Lok Sabha. Women are being asked to fill forms for Rs 1,500. It’s just a sham,” Bindal said.

THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED FROM THE SCHEME ARE CONTRACTUAL STAFFERS, DAILY WAGERS, ANGANWADI WORKERS & HELPERS, ASHA WORKERS AND MID-DAY MEAL WORKERS