RANCHI: Hundreds of women are protesting in Jharkhand, angry at receiving an amount much lower than what the Hemant Soren government promised under the flagship Maiyan Samman Yojana. They took to the streets in Dhanbad and Jharia on Wednesday, claiming a transfer of Rs 1,000 to their accounts monthly instead of the revised Rs 2,500.
The protest embarrasses the government, which on January 6 claimed to have transferred Rs 11,1415.44 crore under the welfare scheme in the form of direct benefit transfer (DBT) of Rs 2,500 each into 56.62 lakh accounts.
The agitated beneficiaries, numbering a few hundred, tried to ransack the Circle Office and tore and burnt banners of the Yojana, asking why they were discriminated against.
Rukhsar Parveen says she doesn’t know why she is getting less. “I filled out the forms initially but have yet to get any of the installments. They are being partial in giving the benefits of this scheme.”
She complained that those with “big buildings have received all four monthly instalments (since the scheme’s inception), but poor people like us have not received any”.
Fellow beneficiary Babita Devi, who protested at the Jharia Circle Office, said even though she filled out the form thrice, both online and offline, she received no transfer into her bank account.
Disappointed, she is critical of the government. “Due to the wrong policies of the state government, women are forced to run from pillar to post to get the benefits of the Yojana. Only a few women are getting the benefits while most women are deprived.”
Shanti Devi came all the way from Hazaribagh complaining that she received the initial two instalments of Rs 1,000 in her bank account but nothing thereafter. “There is no one to explain why I am not getting the benefits despite being eligible for it”, she said.
Going by their statements, it appears that many women did not receive the increased honorarium of ₹2500 in the current month, even though they got the original ₹1,000 in the previous three months.
The Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana is the flagship programme of the Hemant Soren Government, launched last August, under which women aged between 21 and 50 get monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 credited to their bank accounts. The government increased the amount to Rs 2,500 before the Assembly elections.
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