Seoni, Nov 12 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Wednesday transferred the enhanced monthly assistance of Rs 1,500 each to the beneficiaries of the ‘Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna’ scheme at an event in Seoni district.

The Chief Minister transferred Rs 1,857 crore into the accounts of more than 1.26 crore beneficiaries of the scheme through a single click as the 30th instalment.

Notably, the Madhya Pradesh cabinet on Monday approved the increase of Rs 250 in the monthly allowance to eligible women under the Ladli Behna scheme, taking the amount to Rs 1,500 per month from November onwards.

As part of the scheme, more than 1.26 crore women aged 21 to 60 years, who have a family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh, received a monthly allowance from the state government.

The scheme was launched by the then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in March 2023 with Rs 1,000 monthly assistance, which was increased to Rs 1,250 the same year in October, ahead of the State Assembly election.

Until last month, the state government was spending a total of Rs 1,541 crore into the bank accounts of beneficiaries under the scheme every month. The enhancement of Rs 250 per beneficiary will cost an additional Rs 1,793.75 crore for the ongoing financial year 2025-26.

The state government was supposed to transfer the enhanced instalment of Rs 1,500 for each beneficiary in October’s instalment (29th). However, it could not materialise.

State Finance Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda had allocated Rs 18,669 crore for the scheme in the Budget presented in the Assembly in March this year.

Notably, in its manifesto for the 2023 Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised to gradually increase the amount to Rs 3,000 per month by 2028.

–IANS

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