While Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has attended nearly 90 events in poll-bound Punjab over the past 11 months, his government has also widened the scope of its Deen Dayal Lado Lakshmi Yojana – raising the annual family income ceiling for eligibility from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh – in a move the state BJP leaders believe could give the party a campaign edge in Punjab.
The scheme’s expansion is expected to bring nearly 27 lakh more Haryana women within its ambit, in addition to the nearly 10 lakh already covered, according to Praveen Attrey, media secretary to CM Saini.
“It would certainly attract voters in Punjab too, as they would have a chance to get policies like those implemented in Haryana by giving BJP a chance there,” Attrey claimed.
The BJP plans to use the expanded scheme to contrast Haryana’s Rs 2,100 monthly assistance for eligible women with the Rs 1,000 monthly assistance being offered under the AAP-led Punjab government’s Mukh Mantri Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojana. Party leaders believe the comparison will generate political debate in Punjab where women voters are a significant constituency.
Contrasting schemes
The two schemes differ significantly in scale and structure. Punjab’s scheme is near-universal for women aged 18 and above — only income-tax payees, government employees and serving or former MPs and MLAs are excluded. Women already receiving the social security pension can also receive the benefit.
As of August 15, around 67% of the estimated 98 lakh beneficiaries received financial assistance in Punjab. The AAP-led government expects coverage to eventually reach nearly 97% of the state’s adult women. According to the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, women accounted for 1.02 crore — 47.45% — of the state’s 2.15 crore electorate.
“74.59 lakh women had registered for the scheme so far, while financial assistance for the July-September quarter had been transferred to 65.62 lakh women,” Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said on August 15 this year.
Punjab provides Rs 1,000 per month to general-category women and Rs 1,500 to the Scheduled Caste (SC) women.
In contrast, the Haryana scheme provides a flat Rs 2,100 to all eligible women, but with stricter conditions — a woman must be aged 23 or above, belong to a family with a verified annual income not exceeding Rs 1.80 lakh as recorded in the Family Information Database Repository, and, if she has married into Haryana from another state, either she or her husband must have lived in Haryana for at least 15 years. There is no cap on the number of eligible women from a single family.
Punjab has allocated Rs 9,300 crore for its scheme in the 2026-27 Budget; Haryana has allocated Rs 6,500 crore.
Pushback from AAP
Haryana AAP president and ex-Rajya Sabha MP, Sushil Gupta said the Lado Lakshmi Yojana’s reach was limited because several eligibility conditions were imposed, and that BJP leaders had promised before the 2024 Haryana elections to extend the benefit to all women. He said Punjab’s scheme would bring more than 95% of women within its ambit.
Haryana CM also sought to address what he described as misinformation being allegedly spread by the Opposition leaders, that registering for the Lado Lakshmi Yojana would lead to discontinuation of other benefits, including pensions. “There is no truth in such claims. All women registering for or receiving benefits under the Lado Lakshmi Yojana will continue to receive benefits under other government schemes as before,” said Saini.
