In poll year, MP CM announces scheme to give Rs 1,000 a month to poor women

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said his government will launch a new scheme to provide Rs 1,000 per month to women from financially poor background in the state, where the Assembly polls are due this year-end.

A sum of Rs 60,000 crore will be spent on this scheme in five years, Chouhan said addressing a programme on the banks of the Narmada river in Narmadapuram city on Saturday evening.

We will start the Ladli Bahina Scheme for poor women from lower and middle classes of all sections on the lines of the Ladli Lakshmi Scheme. An amount of Rs 1,000 per month which means Rs 12,000 per year will be given to our sisters, he said.

Chouhan said poor women from all sections can benefit from this scheme even if they have been receiving benefits of other welfare programmes.

"I have to empower my sisters financially. If they are strong then the family will be strong. If the family is strong then the society will be strong. If the society is strong then the state will be strong, he said.

The CM also announced plans to construct a Narmada corridor and Narmada Lok on the lines of the Mahakal Lok at Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar temple.

Chouhan and his wife Sadhana Singh offered prayers on the Narmada river banks on the occasion of the Narmada Jayanti on Saturday.

The state Assembly polls are due in November this year.