The much-awaited Mahila Samridhi Yojana, one of the key promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Delhi assembly elections, has started taking shape, with the Delhi Cabinet deciding to provide Rs 2,500 monthly to the eldest woman of an Antyodaya or BPL household.

A note, seen by News18, reads that the cabinet has decided that the scheme will cover women aged between 21 and 60 and they must be from an Antyodaya or Below Poverty Line (BPL) household in Delhi with a valid ration card issued by the Delhi Department of Food Supplies.

“Benefit is limited to one woman per household. The applicant must be the eldest eligible woman in the family. All children in the applicant woman’s household must have completed vaccination or be actively undergoing a vaccination schedule," it said.

A Delhi government official, demanding anonymity, said that the Cabinet is working on finalising the scheme and the official announcement is expected in May.

It is worth mentioning that last week, Delhi LG VK Saxena gave approval for the scheme to issue Rs 2,500 per month to eligible women.

The note said that with LG’s approval, the Government will be able to issue orders and take executive action based on the decision of the Cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.

On March 8, the Delhi Cabinet approved the scheme which aims at facilitating the economic empowerment of underprivileged women in Delhi.

To formulate detailed guidelines and implementation, a committee was formed under the Chief Minister and her cabinet colleagues – Pravesh Sahib Singh, Ashish Sood, and Kapil Mishra.

As per the official note, the scheme will benefit nearly 17 lakh women in Delhi. The government has already allocated Rs 5,100 crore for this scheme.

While the government has not made any official announcement, the note said that of the monthly financial benefit of Rs 2,500, a part will be credited directly to the beneficiary’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) wallet and another will be deposited monthly in the recurring deposit (recurring fixed deposit) in the name of the beneficiary as per scheme guidelines.
 

This, according to the government official quoted above, will allow women to have some savings in the bank, apart from monthly financial assistance.

They added that the decision on what share will be given in hand and what will be put in the RD is not yet finalised.

“An online portal will be created at the earliest for online registration of beneficiaries," the note reads.

Last month, while speaking to News18, Gupta had said that only yellow ration card holders will be the beneficiaries as per what has been decided. A yellow ration card is for those who are in the BPL category.

News18 also reported in February that the Cabinet has to finalise the details of the scheme and define “poor families". As per the BJP manifesto, the party promised to provide financial assistance of Rs 2,500 monthly to women from poor families under the Mahila Samridhi Yojana.

All the top leadership, while they were campaigning in Delhi, had said that the scheme would be taken up for approval in the first cabinet meeting.

A similar scheme was also launched by the previous Chief Minister, Atishi, from the Aam Aadmi Party, in December 2024. The AAP government had approved Rs 1,000 for all women in Delhi, excluding those who were taxpayers, government employees or were already getting financial assistance from the government. However, it could never be implemented on the ground.