Targeting Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former MP Home Minister and Congress leader Bala Bachchan on Friday claimed that Chouhan has copied the recently announced ‘Laadli Behna Yojana’ from the ‘Naari Sammaan Yojana’ already being run by the Congress state government in Himachal Pradesh.

Bachchan told some media persons at Indore that the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh has been providing Rs 1500 per month to the women in that state under the ‘Naari Sammaan Yojana’.

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He said Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had promised that scheme before the 2022 Assembly polls in Himachal and after the Congress formed the government in that state, it fulfilled the promise in the form of the ‘Naari Sammaan Yojana’.

Bachchan also took a jibe at the BJP MP government, saying it could not even properly copy the Congress scheme, as several complicated and impractical conditions and requirements have been included in the ‘Laadli Behna Yojana’, which will make a large number of women ineligible for its benefits.

Chouhan launched the ‘Laadli Behna Yojana’ from Bhopal on 5 March, his 64th birthday. The CM said this is a scheme very close to his heart, as his aim is to provide financial assistance to his sisters (the women of MP) so that they are empowered and become financially secure and do not have to spread their hands in front of anyone.

Chouhan also said that God had made him the Chief Minister to change the lives of his sisters and see them smile with self-confidence, and not have tears in their eyes.

Under the scheme, the MP BJP government would pay Rs 1000 per month to all the eligible women from all sections of society in the age group of 23-60.

However, the scheme would not be applicable upon all those women whose family owns a four-wheeler or those whose families are income tax payees or whose family’s annual income is more than Rs 2.5 lakh.

All government employee women, both central and state, would also not be eligible for this scheme and neither would be those women whose family jointly owns more than five acre land.

To be a beneficiary, a woman would have to apply for the scheme. It would be imperative for a woman to have a personal bank account, as the state government would transfer the money straight into bank accounts.

After scrutinizing the eligibility of the women who apply for the scheme, the state government would finalize the list of beneficiaries. They would start receiving Rs 1000 per month in their bank accounts from 10 June this year.