Freebies for women take centrestage in Jharkhand
On August 3, Hemant Soren’s government launched Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojna giving ₹1000 per month to all women in the age group 18-25, covering around 5.2 million beneficiaries.
RANCHI: Jharkhand’s ruling and opposition alliances are trying to target 12.8 million women voters in the state in the run-up to the November 13 and 20 assembly elections, continuing the trend of parties across states launching schemes aimed at women if in power already (Madhya Pradesh is a case in point) or promising to do so if they come to power (Karnakata).
On August 3, Hemant Soren’s government launched Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojna giving ₹1000 per month to all women in the age group 18-25, covering around 5.2 million beneficiaries.
Around a fortnight before the state polls were announced on October 15, the principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced a counter scheme, Gogo-Didi Yojna promising ₹2100 per month to all women, payable on 11th of every month if it came to power.
Soren’s JMM-Congress-RJD government responded speedily. In its last cabinet, a day before the announcement of the polls on October 15, the state cabinet approved a proposal to increase the amount to be paid under Maiyan Samman from ₹1000 to ₹2500.
The new amount, ₹2500, would be transferred to the beneficiaries from December 2024, increasing the burden on the exchequer by around ₹9000 crore, government officials said.
Analysts aren’t surprised by the efforts to target 12.8 million women voters (out of a total of 26 million). Sudhir Pal of Election Watch,said both sides are emphasizing women-centric schemes, following a trend seen in other states where such schemes have worked. Palisted similar schemes in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka,and Odisha that worked well politically. “That is the reason we see a similar scheme launched by the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra as well.”
In Maharashtra , the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Wednesday announced direct transfer of ₹3,000 to every women in the state if it comes to power, to counter the ₹2,500 being given by the Eknath Shinde led government currently. In Karnataka, the ruling Congress is giving ₹2,000 per month to non-income tax payee women, a promise it made ahead of last year’s polls where it displaced the BJP. The BJP in Madhya Pradesh gives ₹1,250 under Ladli Behna scheme (which is believed to have helped the partyretain power in last year’s election) and in Odisha, the new BJP government has decided to pay ₹10,000 every year to women, fulfilling a poll promise.
“As far as Jharkhand is concerned, others factor will also play a role in the election, but if over 5 million women are benefiting from the scheme, then it could impact results, especially in seats where contest is tight or multipolar. When both parties are promising similar benefits, the one that has already started paying is likely to have an advantage,”Pal added.
The fact that women have emerged as a vote bank in themselves was underlined by chief minister Hemant Soren in his speech in Saraikela on Tuesday.
“Women’s participation in electoral process has increased and in few seats is more than men. Therefore, we thought it fit to empower them and came up with Maiyan Samman Yojana.”
The opposition has described the Maiyan scheme as an attempt to fool women of the state. It has reminded the JMM of its electoral promise in 2019 of giving ₹2000 per month to all women as Chulha Kharch (kitchen expense).
Jharkhand BJP working president Ravindra Ray said that, in contrast, women trust the BJP as they have seen the party’s track record in other states vis-a-vis Hemant Soren government’s failure in delivering on the electoral promise.
“They launched the scheme two months before the election and think people will fall into their trap. They have started giving ₹1000 per month and when we announced ₹2100, they raised it to ₹2500. If they had the funds, why didn’t they start giving ₹2500 from Day 1? Women are asking Hemant Soren to pay the outstanding ₹1.25 lakh at the rate of ₹2000 per month he had promised in 2019 and sought votes,” said Ray.
JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey asked why voters should buy a promise which is set to reduce their benefit.
“Our government has already cleared a payment of ₹2500 from December. What is BJP trying to say by promising ₹2100? That they will reduce the benefit by ₹400. Then why should people vote for them?”.