BHUBANESWAR: Ending all surmises over the details of Subhadra Yojana, the state government on Friday released the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the ruling BJP’s flagship scheme.
Announcing the Assembly, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said the scheme will be launched at the earliest and transform the lives of more than one crore women of the state.
All eligible women between 21 years and 60 years of age will be covered under the scheme. The beneficiaries will be paid Rs 10,000 per annum in two installments of Rs 5,000 each on Rakhi Purnima and International Women’s Day on March 8.
The duration of the scheme will be five years and each beneficiary will receive Rs 50,000 over the period. The scheme has been approved for implementation from 2024-25 to 2028-29. An outlay of Rs 55,825 crore has been approved for the initiative, the chief minister said.
The SOP was approved was a meeting of the cabinet presided over by the chief minister on Thursday.
Stating that the state government is committed towards ‘Antyodaya’, the chief minister said women from economically well-off families, government employees and Income Tax payees will not be eligible for the cash handout. Besides, women who are receiving assistance of Rs 1,500 or more per month or Rs 18,000 or more per year under any other government scheme will also be excluded from the programme, he added.
Majhi said the payment will be made directly to the beneficiary’s Aadhaar-enabled single-holder (DBT) bank account through the Aadhaar payment bridge system (APBS) in order to ensure transparency in providing the assistance. A Subhadra debit card will also be issued to the beneficiaries, he added.
Besides, 100 beneficiaries with maximum digital transactions will be identified in each gram panchayat and urban local body and an additional incentive of Rs 500 will be given to each of them in order to encourage digital transactions.
The chief minister said to avail the benefits under this scheme, women can apply by filling up the forms available free of cost at anganwadi centres, block offices, Mo Seva Kendras and Jan Seva Kendras. A call centre will also be set up for Subhadra, he added. The Women and Child Development department will establish a Subhadra Society for the implementation and monitoring of the programme, he said.