Mahtari Vandan Yojana is our top priority. Empowering women and ensuring their maximum participation in the development of the country has been the policy of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Our illustrious Prime Minister Hon'ble Narendra Modi had decided to give one thousand rupees per month to women in the form of Mahtari Vandan Yojana to empower the women of the state. This is the reason why we included Mahtari Vandan Yojana in our election manifesto and promptly fulfilled this guarantee of Modi ji as soon as the government was formed. The first installment of this scheme was transferred to the accounts of mothers and sisters on 10 March 2024 in the virtual presence of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. From this you can understand how serious our government has been about this scheme," said Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai in a special conversation with Uday India. Presented here are the highlights of that conversation:
Mahtari Vandan Yojana is being implemented in the state with the aim of making the women of Chhattisgarh state economically self-reliant, increasing their self-confidence and ensuring better nutrition for them and their children. I am happy that we have achieved great success in all the objectives, for which we started Mahtari Vandan Yojana in a short period of time. This scheme has received a good response from mothers and sisters. Unprecedented enthusiasm is being seen among the women taking advantage of this scheme from Bastar to Surguja. With the assistance amount received from this scheme, they are now able to easily fulfill their small needs. They are able to take good care of their health and that of their children. In this way, women are being empowered by Mahtari Vandan Yojana. Since the sex ratio in Chhattisgarh is quite good and the population of women is quite high, such schemes of economic empowerment become very important for them. When we strengthen women economically, naturally the whole family becomes financially strong. Women also invest their money in the most important works, this increases savings in the economy and also expands the market. Due to this, the path of progress of the state opens up rapidly. As far as the changes to be made in the future regarding this scheme are concerned, there is definitely always a possibility of refining all the schemes from time to time and making necessary improvements. As per the need, Mahtari Vandan Yojana will also be further refined and improved in the future.
70 lakh mothers and sisters of the state are getting the benefit of the scheme. You can guess how big an achievement it is to have economic and social empowerment of such a large number of women. I am happy that we have been able to achieve this in a short period. After the launch of this scheme in Chhattisgarh, many states have also started similar schemes. In this way, this scheme has been established and accepted as an ideal scheme in the country. Even in many states, where there is a non-BJP government, schemes have been started on the same lines. At present, during the assembly elections being held in various states of the country, the opposition parties are also imitating the policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party and announcing to give cash as assistance to women.
So far, 7 installments of this scheme have been allotted. Under this scheme, assistance of one thousand rupees each is provided to mothers and sisters every month. The biggest benefit of the Mahtari Vandan Yojana is that it has helped women organise their budget. They get its amount on the first day of the month itself. For example, after the introduction of the scheme, if a sister starts a recurring deposit of one thousand rupees every month, then she can easily deposit it, as the amount comes on the first day of the month itself. The needs of children's education can also be met easily now. This way the budget gets organised. The best thing is that now women do not face any kind of obstacle in buying small happiness. When children express some wish, the mother fulfills it immediately. How much satisfaction must have come within the mother. I think this satisfaction is our biggest achievement. The way the faces of mothers and sisters glow on seeing the notification of mobile on the first day of the month. I also get the same satisfaction that as a son and as a brother, I have been able to fulfill my part of duty.
Yes, this scheme is for the growth of our mothers and sisters, for the growth of society, for the growth of the government. By taking advantage of this scheme, women have made rapid economic progress, they have started monthly deposits, they are also investing through post offices and through SIP etc. Due to this, their savings are naturally increasing rapidly, due to which they will be able to save a lot for the future. Women are also fulfilling their dream of air travel with this savings, due to which they are able to fly in the sky. This scheme is our top priority. Empowering women while ensuring their maximum participation in the development of the country has been the policy of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Our illustrious Prime Minister Hon'ble Narendra Modi Ji had decided to give one thousand rupees per month to women in the form of Mahtari Vandan Yojana to empower the women of the state. This is the reason why we included Mahtari Vandan Yojana in our election manifesto and as soon as the government was formed, we promptly fulfilled this guarantee of Modi Ji. The first installment of this scheme was transferred to the accounts of mothers and sisters on 10 March 2024 in the virtual presence of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji. From this you can understand how serious our government has been about this scheme.
While transferring the first installment of this scheme, the illustrious Prime Minister had said that when women are strong, the nation is also strong. In the near future, the Mahtari Vandan Yojana will bring even more pleasant and far-reaching results. It will also help in achieving important goals like reducing maternal and infant mortality rate. This scheme is not only a scheme to provide assistance to mothers and sisters, but through this scheme we are also honouring them for their contribution to nation building. That is why this scheme has been named Mahtari Vandan Yojana. From homes to farms and from factories to offices, women are contributing to the development of the nation, while fulfilling their family responsibilities. This scheme worships these mothers and sisters.
70 lakh 12 thousand mothers and sisters of Chhattisgarh had filled the form, out of which 70 lakh mothers and sisters are getting the benefit of the scheme. Seeing the popularity of this scheme, many men had also filled the application. They said that there is no woman in their house, along with this unmarried women had also applied for it, who have been made ineligible. Most of the mothers and sisters taking advantage of this scheme come from rural backgrounds. Among them too, women from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes are also there. For these women, the amount of one thousand rupees is a big amount. There are many needs of women, which they could not discuss openly in the family. Now they are able to fulfill such needs also. Along with in-laws, they are able to discharge their responsibilities towards their parents. With the launch of this scheme, festivals like Teej-Pora have become more vibrant. We have implemented such a big scheme benefiting 70 lakh women in just a record time of three months. Its speed has been much faster than the implementation of schemes providing financial assistance to women in other states.
We are constantly getting positive feedback regarding the impact of Mahtari Vandan Yojana on the lives of women. We have been reviewing this from time to time. We will continuously work on these feedbacks. I have already said that like all schemes, the process of discussion regarding Mahtari Vandan Yojana also continues continuously. We will keep refining it as per the need.
Provision of online and offline application has been made to avail the benefits of Mahtari Vandan Yojana. In view of the connectivity problem in remote areas, offline application facility was also started. In these areas, Anganwadi workers and assistants go door to door and get the applications of eligible women filled. Aadhar card and mobile number are necessary to avail the benefits of this scheme. For this application, it is also necessary to have a personal bank account and linking of Aadhar to that account. After making all these preparations, mothers and sisters can apply. A mobile app has also been created by the government for this scheme. Through this app, they can get information about their application and the amount received by them. They can also get the necessary guidelines of the government regarding the scheme through this app. When we started the Mahtari Vandan Yojana, we conducted an extensive survey. 70 lakh women joining this scheme shows that we promoted it widely. Our Anganwadi workers reached every house. We organised awareness camps for this in every ward. A wave of awareness arose in Chhattisgarh. You could have seen the enthusiasm of women at that time. There was a huge queue in front of the banks. Every woman came to know about this scheme. We assured all the women that they should not worry despite the huge crowd. We took the initiative from the banks to give special cooperation for this work. Our collectors monitored it all the time and excellent results came out. If you want to see the level of awareness, you can see it in the villages of Bastar and Surguja. Here, even those women are taking advantage of the Mahtari Vandan Yojana whose villages are completely cut off during the rainy season. This scheme has also reached those women who reach the nearby town haat bazaar only on market days. Women have benefited from the Mahtari Vandan Yojana even in the remote villages of Dandakaranya. This is our success. Also see how quickly we did this work. We got so many women to fill the form, did the scrutiny and launched it in a very short time. Our determined team has contributed to this scheme. We had promoted the Mahtari Vandan Yojana in mission mode to take it to the people, and when we brought this scheme, there was clarity in everyone's mind about it. Every woman knew where to fill the form, and which documents were to attach. The benefit of this was that they had already made the necessary preparations.
Such complaints are very negligible. We are getting these complaints examined. Despite this, we are constantly ensuring that no ineligible woman gets the benefit. In this scheme, we have included married women as well as deserted and widowed women. In this way, we have tried to bring as many mothers and sisters as possible under the ambit of this scheme with full dignity and respect. Our entire team examines all the applications. In such a big scheme, in which 70 lakh women are getting benefited, only a negligible complaint has come out and this too has been rectified. There are some cases in which this problem has come due to human error, but we have started to correct it since the month of March. I am saying this because most of the responsibility of implementing the scheme was on the workers and assistants of our Women and Child Development Department. They know the local people very well. They themselves have the feeling that every eligible woman should get the benefit of this scheme. Since they know all the women in their area, the chances of any ineligible woman filling the form through them are minimal.
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