CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday launched the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's flagship financial assistance scheme for women, 'Mukh Mantri Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojana' (Mothers-Daughters Respect Scheme), in his Assembly constituency of Dhuri in Sangrur district, fulfilling the party's final poll promise made ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections.
Opposition parties questioned the timing of the rollout, describing it as an election-driven exercise ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls.
Under the scheme, women will receive Rs 1,000 per month, while women from the Scheduled Caste category will receive Rs 1,500 per month. The government said around 40 lakh women across the state had been registered under the scheme.
Launching the scheme through a dedicated web portal in Dhuri, Mann announced the transfer of three months' Satkar Raashi directly into the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries.
Women will receive Rs 3,000, while Scheduled Caste women will receive Rs 4,500, covering the months of July, August and September. The payments began reaching beneficiaries during the event, with women receiving SMS confirmations on their mobile phones.
Sharing snippets from the programme on X, Mann said, "Our government has launched this scheme with meticulous planning to ensure that it continues uninterrupted in the years ahead. This financial assistance will provide significant support to economically weaker families while also serving as a mark of respect for our mothers and daughters," it read.
Addressing the gathering after launching the scheme, Mann described the day as historic and said the state government had rolled out the initiative under which more than 40 lakh women had already been registered.
"The Satkar Raashi has started from July and it will pave the way for women empowerment. This is an ambitious scheme and we have launched it with complete planning to ensure that it continues permanently," he said.
Sharing details of the scheme, Mann said women aged above 18 years would receive mobile notifications regarding the financial assistance of Rs 1,000, while Scheduled Caste women would receive Rs 1,500.
"The funds will be directly transferred into bank accounts and women who are already receiving social security pensions will also be eligible under the scheme. Around 97% of women in Punjab are expected to benefit and the state government has earmarked Rs 9,300 crore in the Budget for this purpose," he said.
Highlighting the broader social significance of the initiative, Mann said that although the financial assistance may not make women rich, it would provide them with dignity and self-respect.
Senior AAP leader and Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia said the Punjab government had fulfilled all the major guarantees made to the people of the state. "This financial assistance is much more than a direct cash benefit. It is a profound transfer of trust to the women of Punjab," he said.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa demanded that the Mann government immediately release Rs 54,000 in arrears to every eligible woman, representing the Rs 1,000 monthly assistance promised ahead of the February 2022 Punjab Assembly elections but not paid over the subsequent 54 months.
He said the AAP had projected the monthly financial assistance as one of its principal electoral guarantees.
Bajwa announced that the Punjab Congress would take the issue directly to the people through a statewide outreach campaign.
He said the party would expose what it described as the AAP government's breach of faith and make people aware of how the ruling party had failed to honour both the spirit and the letter of its pre-election commitment.
Questioning the timing of the scheme's rollout, Bajwa described it as an election-driven exercise rather than a genuine welfare initiative. He noted that the Punjab Assembly elections are due in early 2027 and alleged that, after remaining inactive on the issue for more than four years, the government had acted only with the next election approaching.
Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon said all women in the state should have received between Rs 60,000 (general category) and Rs 90,000 (Scheduled Caste category) over the full five-year period.
He alleged that, after not paying even a single rupee for four-and-a-half years, the government was now staging a drama by announcing only a token amount during the election season, describing it as a blatant betrayal of women.
He further said that since the March 2026 Budget session, the government had repeatedly publicised that payments for April, May and June would be released. However, it had now replaced those with payments for July, August and September, thereby misleading the public.
He alleged that, with the election Model Code of Conduct expected to come into force soon, the government was attempting to secure votes by releasing funds for only three months.
