As Bihar gets ready to vote on 6 and 11 November, both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Mahagathbandhan have announced women-centric schemes to woo women voters who account for a major chunk of the electorate.
The NDA, which is in power in Bihar with Nitish Kumar as chief minister, transferred Rs 10,000 each to 21 lakh women under the Jeevika Didi scheme just weeks ahead of the elections, and has pledged to empower one crore women Lakhpati Didis by providing financial assistance of up to Rs 2 lakh to women through the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana.
At the same time, the Mahagathbandhan led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress has promised Rs 2,500 per month to women under the Mai Behan Maan Yojana, besides higher benefits for Jeevika Didis.
Jyoti Mishra, political analyst and assistant professor at Amity University, Mohali, said that not just Haryana, but all states have been vying to woo women, who account for almost half the country’s total population.
“The problem is that most of these schemes are announced ahead of elections without proper analysis of the financial implications,” Mishra told ThePrint. “And when it comes to their implementation, the states come up with exclusion clauses, as Haryana has done in abundance, to limit the number of beneficiaries. Or they cut down their budget for the scheme later, as Maharashtra did for the second financial year of its scheme.”
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Tweaks in eligibility criteria
Cash incentive schemes for women appear to have played a key role in propelling the BJP and other parties to victory in state elections.
Madhya Pradesh, under former chief minister Shivraj Chouhan, was among the first states to launch a cash transfer scheme for women. The Ladli Behna Yojana, which had initially promised Rs 1,250 a month to women from families earning less than Rs 2.5 lakh a year, is said to have played a crucial role in helping the BJP return to power in 2023.
The NDA followed a similar playbook and announced the Ladki Bahin scheme to pave the way for its return to power with a bigger mandate in Maharashtra.
However, critics say the experience of states, such as Maharashtra and Karnataka—under the Congress government—shows that the promises under women-focused schemes have not been entirely fulfilled.
In Maharashtra, the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, or direct benefit transfer scheme, helped the Mahayuti coalition win a historic mandate in the assembly elections last November.
But after the polls, the Mahayuti government—comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar)—tightened scrutiny of the scheme and said that many women who did not meet the eligibility criteria were on the list.
As a result, many women were dropped from the list of beneficiaries, and the state budget allocation for the programme was reduced from Rs 46,000 crore to Rs 36,000 crore in 2025 due to fiscal pressures, leading to criticism of the government.
In Karnataka, too, the Congress had offered many women-focused welfare schemes as part of its “five guarantees” before the 2023 assembly elections.
However, since then, the state government has removed over 2 lakh ineligible beneficiaries from its flagship Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which provides Rs 2,000 a month to women heads of households. The reason: either they or their husbands were income-tax or GST payees.
The Karnataka government’s decision to roll out free rides for women on state-run buses also became controversial because of the cost to the exchequer and concerns that it was being extended to women who didn’t need financial support. Despite the controversy, the scheme hasn’t been scrapped.
In Delhi, too, before the February 2025 assembly election, the BJP had promised to provide monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,500 to women if voted to power. The cabinet approved the Mahila Samriddhi Yojana on 8 March, but it is yet to be implemented.
‘Haryana govt excluding many’
While critics have raised concerns over the number of women who have benefitted from the cash transfer scheme, the Haryana government says the initiative has been successful.
Chief Minister Saini told media persons Saturday that by midnight of 31 October, 6,97,697 women had registered for the Lado Lakshmi Scheme on the special mobile app launched by the government. Of these, 6,51,529 were married, while 46,168 were unmarried.
“So huge was the response that in 24 hours, starting midnight of 30 October to midnight of 31 October, 37,737 women registered in the app,” the CM said.
He added that all women over the age of 23 with a family income of less than Rs 1 lakh per annum could apply on the Lado Lakshmi Yojana app, which, he said, is a thoroughly transparent method of application. “Within 24-48 hours, the verification is completed at the government level, and a message is sent to the beneficiary demanding a live picture for the e-KYC. The process of e-KYC takes a few seconds only.”
He further said that while funds have been transferred to 3,46,983 women, another 1,75,179 would get the money on completing the e-KYC process.
But not everyone was impressed.
AIDWA’s Sangwan said the benefit was grossly insufficient compared to the initial promise. “They (the BJP) got votes of women from Haryana, promising them Rs 2,100 every month by announcing the Lado Lakshmi Yojana,” she said. “But when they changed the criteria, they came up with conditions that ensured that very few women would become eligible under the scheme. Just 5.22 lakh women getting the benefit out of 95 lakh adult women of the state is a fraction of the total—less than four percent.”
Sangwan added that women have been approaching her almost every day, saying the documentation required for the Lado Lakshmi App is so cumbersome that it is difficult for women to complete the process.
“For instance, there is a condition that the women must have to be living in Haryana for at least 15 years. It is strange and surprising that the Haryana government comes out with such genius ideas to exclude people from getting the benefits,” she remarked. “Even for the purpose of citizenship, living at a place for 10 years makes one qualified, but for Lado Lakshmi, they need 15 years.”
She alleged that the BJP has been making pre-poll promises in states, but when it comes to implementation, it comes out with clauses that exclude a large majority of beneficiaries. The promises to women in poll-bound Bihar is also being viewed with scepticism because of this, she added.
About Lado Lakshmi Yojana
Ahead of the 2024 assembly elections in Haryana, the BJP government led by Saini had promised Rs 2,100 per month to all Haryana women under the scheme in its Sankalp Patra (election manifesto).
According to data on the Haryana Chief Electoral Officer’s website, 2.03 crore voters were registered in the state, as of 12 September last year. Of these, 95,77,926 were women, of which, 19,06,483 were above the age of 60.
Considering that women above the age of 60, who are getting an old-age pension, would not be entitled to the additional benefit, it was estimated that 76,71,443 women would be getting benefits under the Lado Lakshmi Yojana.
However, when the state government notified the scheme on 28 August this year, it said that only women above 23 and from families with a verified yearly income not exceeding Rs 1 lakh per year would be eligible to apply.
The notification also mandated that a woman—or her husband, in case of marriage into Haryana from a different state—had to be a resident of Haryana, and must have lived in the state for a minimum of 15 years before the date of application.
Women who have been receiving any financial assistance under any social security schemes, such as the Old Age Samman Allowance Scheme, and Financial Assistance to Widows and Destitute Women Rules, were also excluded.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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