Himanchal: Congress, BJP lock horns over stipend scheme for women

SHIMLA: A war of words has begun between the ruling Congress and the opposition over the recently announced stipend of Rs 1,500 per month under the Samman Nidhi Yojana to women in the age group of 18 to 59 years.

The Congress leaders have accused the BJP of being anti-women while the BJP leaders have said that the 'Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi' scheme would backtrack for the Congress as only 23 per cent (five out of 22 lakh women) have been included in the scheme.

The CPIM has come out in support of the Congress. CPIM leader and former Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) Sanjay Chauhan told PTI on Wednesday that the scheme had been notified before the announcement of the elections.

"We have opposed the contention of the BJP and urged the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to permit the government to go ahead with implementation of the decision," he said and added it is an ongoing scheme which was notified for the women of Spiti subdivision in January and Lahaul and Spiti district in February 2024 and now the women of the whole state is covered in this.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg had made it clear that new beneficiaries cannot be added under the scheme for giving Rs 1,500 to women as the Model Code of Conduct has come into force. Forms cannot be filled for getting Rs 1,500 per month pension as it carries the photograph of the chief minister, he added.

The BJP's complaint to the CEO to stop the process of filling of the forms for availing the benefit of Rs 1,500 per month under the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi has evoked sharp reaction from the ruling Congress, which claimed that the decision was taken much before the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct.

In a social media post, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the BJP has become "Kam Roko" party and is trying hard to stop the financial benefits to women. The "culture of toppling the government by use of money power and stopping work will not work in Himachal", he said.

On March 4, in a bid to fulfill its poll guarantee, promised on the eve of last the assembly polls, Sukhu had announced to give pension of Rs 1,500 per month to women in the age group of 18 to 59 in the state. He had said that Rs 800 crores would be spent annually on this scheme which would benefit over five lakh women in the state. A notification was issued in this regard on March 13.

"The opposition BJP is unnerved after the government announced to give Rs 1,500 per month to all eligible women from April 1, 2024, and all the formalities were completed before the code of conduct came into force," said Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi.

The budget provision has been made to fulfill the poll promises and the BJP should tell whether it wants that the women should not get the benefit of Rs 1,500 per month, Negi said, adding that women folk would give befitting reply to the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress has also circulated a video in which it has accused the BJP of cursing the government for not implementing the poll promises to give Rs 1,500 per month to women for the past 14 months and now opposing the decision when the government was going ahead with implementation of the decision.

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur had accused the Congress government of getting the forms with photographs of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and Chief Minister Sukhu filled for getting the pension to derive political mileage by misleading the women as it had done earlier during the Assembly polls in 2022.

Thakur said that the Congress has promised to give Rs 1,500 per month to all women in the 18-59 age group which numbered about 22-lakh but now the benefit is being given only to about five lakh women and majority of women is left out, which would boomerang.

Moreover, no provision for this scheme announced a week after the budget was passed has been made in the budget, Thakur said and lashed at the Congress for making false promises and repeating the process of filling of forms as done before the last Assembly polls held in November 2022.

According to the notification, the 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 public sector undertakings of the state and central governments will not get the amount.

The other categories excluded from the pension are 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.