In the budget 2024-25 presented before the Delhi Legislative Assembly on Monday, the Kejriwal government made a historic announcement for women empowerment. The government will now give Rs 1000 every month to every woman above 18 years of age.
For this, Delhi Finance Minister Atishi announced the launch of Chief Minister Mahila Samman Yojana.
Congratulating the women folk in Delhi, CM Arvind Kejriwal said that the world's largest women empowerment program has been announced in today's budget.
“To empower women, your Delhi government has taken a step forward and has now given you a gift of Rs 12,000 annually. Now all our daughters, mothers and sisters above 18 years of age will be given Rs 1000 per month under this scheme. About 50 lakh women will benefit from this in Delhi. This dream of ours for years has been fulfilled this year. When money comes into the hands of a common man, they go to the market. This creates demand in the market and leads to progress of the country. The budget of Delhi government is inspired by the concept of Ram Raj. In this, all sections and all sectors have been taken care of,” said Delhi CM in the assembly.
CM Arvind Kejriwal said today's budget is a very emotional moment for him personally.
“We are very common and ordinary people, we do not come from political families, none of my parents, grandparents or any distant relation were in politics and we never thought in our lives that we would enter politics. It was a great favour by the people of Delhi that they placed us on such a big position and gave us such a big responsibility. I always say that I cannot repay this favour of the people of Delhi even in seven lifetimes. Ever since the government was formed in Delhi, we have never seen it from the point of view of politics or considered it as government work. Just like I have taken care of my family _ parents, wife and children _ I have tried to be a part of every family living in Delhi, whether by becoming their brother or their son. I have considered all the children of Delhi as my own children and have tried to give them the best education. It has been my endeavor that every child of Delhi should get the same good education as my children got or are getting. My endeavour is that if anyone in a family falls ill in Delhi, he should not get poor treatment due to lack of money, he should get the best treatment. So, I tried to take care of every family, becoming their elder son, their brother,” said the chief minister.
The Delhi Chief Minister added, “Today, a big announcement has been made for my mothers and my sisters of Delhi. This is not a very small thing. In the field of women empowerment, I think this will be the world's biggest program of women empowerment. There is a lot of talk about women empowerment. But how will empowerment happen? The greatest empowerment occurs when there is money in hand, when there is money in the pocket. When there is money in the pocket, a person feels powerful. So, if we put money in the hands of women and in their pockets, only then will women feel empowered. Women who do not earn are especially in a very disadvantaged position in our society. At home, they have to stretch their hands before their husband, sons or relatives for small needs. Now this will not happen.”
The AAP National Convenor said now for every woman above 18 years of age in Delhi, whether she is our younger sister, elder sister, or any mother, provision for Rs 1000 per month has been made. “Every month, Rs 1000 will go into her account. This is a big thing, and we have been working on it for many years. Obviously, a lot of money will be spent on this but because now there is a very honest government in Delhi, it saves every penny. We give electricity for free, water for free, education is free, treatment is free, pilgrimage is free. women's travel is for free. After saving money, we are passing this money on to the public,” he said.
Arvind Kejriwal said why it didn't happen earlier because the other parties usurped all the money, the leaders from other parties pocketed all the money, but this does not happen in Delhi.
“In Delhi, we have saved every penny and spent it on the public. So, by saving money, this year our dream has been fulfilled. I want to congratulate all the women of Delhi very much, I am very grateful to you, your blessings are with me. I don't need anything from you, just keep this blessing your brother, your son (Arvind Kejriwal),” he said.
As for the eligibility for the Rs 1000 aid, the Chief Minister said, “Women who are above 18 years will be eligible for this. But that woman should not be a beneficiary of any government pension, should not be in a government job and should not be an income tax payer. And to simplify this system, we have also made it mandatory to give a self-declaration. Later, some cases will be investigated randomly. But by giving self- declaration you will start getting this benefit. This year, after the elections, its process will start and then we will bring it in the cabinet and pass it. So, I want to congratulate the women of Delhi very much.”
CM Kejriwal said this will be a big thing as it will also bring a huge boom in the economy of Delhi. It has always been seen that if property or wealth or money gets concentrated in the hands of a few people, then the economy goes astray. In the last 75 years, we have seen that every party that came to power had only one theory _ the trickle-down theory. Their trickle-down economics was that give all the money to two or four families of the country and they will then set up a factory, all the labourers will work in the factory and the country will progress. This never leads to progress in the country.
“This is the bottoms up theory which has not been implemented across the world, through which if more money comes into the hands of a poor person, the more the economy will progress. When money comes into the hands of a poor person, he goes to the market, buys clothes, soap, other items for consumption, then demand is created in the economy. When demand is created, not only new factories are set up, but new shops open,” the chief minister stated.
Elaborating further the benefits of giving the financial aid to women, the Delhi Chief Minister said, “When we came to power in Delhi, we increased the minimum wages a lot. When we made electricity for free, water for free, money came into the hands of the common people. Today the result of these measures is that Delhi has the lowest inflation and highest prosperity in the entire country. So, when money comes into the hands of women, I think they will go to the market, buy things of their choice, the economy will also progress,” he said.
Answering questions regarding women benefiting from the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’ and whether the scheme will come through, CM Arvind Kejriwal said, “My own belief is that roughly there are around 67 lakh women voters in Delhi. Delete the income taxpayer from it, subtract the government employees from it; it is possible that all the women may not even apply and after doing all those calculations, my own feeling is probably it will be nearly 50 lakh. It's in our blood, we always fight against the mightiest. So far, we have fought against all the odds to get our work done. If there is any obstacle to implementing the scheme, then we will fight against it and implement the scheme. We have done so much work by fighting so far, so we will do this as well.”
He said the Aam Aadmi Party could run the government successfully because of such a huge majority. “Delhiites gave us 62 out of 70 seats once and 67 out of 70 seats once, only then our government could run in Delhi. If they had given 40 out of 70 seats, these people would have overthrown our government. Like these people are overthrowing the government everywhere. For this, I am grateful to Delhiites. Delhiites are seeing how the BJP, the Lieutenant Governor (LG), and the Central Government obstruct every work. Right now, I am fighting alone against the LG, BJP, and the central government. What did the people of Delhi get by electing all seven MPs of BJP? Delhiites got nothing,” the Delhi CM said.
CM Arvind Kejriwal further added that whenever these people stop the work of Delhi, all seven MPs of BJP clap. “I appeal to the people of Delhi that if they extend their support to all seven candidates of the INDIA alliance, then I will have seven hands. I will get strength. By combining Delhi and Punjab and the Rajya Sabha MPs, we will have 25 to 30 MPs with us. Then no one will have the courage to stop the work of Delhi. I am asking the people of Delhi for this strength, that when you go to cast your vote, think about Delhi to strengthen Kejriwal. If you give me strength, then no LG will have the courage to work against you,” he added.
Congratulating Finance Minister Atishi for presenting an all-inclusive budget, the Chief Minister said, “I would give Atishi ji 15 out of 10. She presented a very good budget in which all sections, all sectors were taken care of.”
CM Arvind Kejriwal said today's budget was inspired by the concept of Ram Rajya. “We are providing good hospitals, good schools. We are building roads, doing everything. But I want to draw attention towards one thing that the roads in the villages of Delhi were a little neglected. This time we have made a separate budget provision for it and attention will be given to the roads in rural areas of Delhi and construction of the roads will be done vigorously,” he said.
When asked what was the need for pitching Ram Rajya as the inspiration now, the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal answered, "We believe in Ram Rajya and we have been talking about this vision for years. You can pick any of the budget speeches we have presented so far, including the ones by Manish Sisodia, we have spoken about this vision quite a few times."
Delhi's Finance Minister Atishi supported the Chief Minister by saying, "If you look at our policies, they are clearly influenced by the idea of Ram Rajya. We work for the welfare of people of different economic backgrounds, especially the backward classes. The vision of Ram Rajya is that nobody should be impoverished, dejected, or sick; everyone should prosper. That is exactly what our Delhi government has been dedicatedly working on for the past 9 years. No other government has emphasized on increasing the investments towards education system like we have. Another milestone that we rarely talk about is the reduced level of malnourishment in Delhi, especially in children. The prevalence of malnourishment in Delhi has declined by 91% in children, which is a commendable achievement. It’s not like such schemes are not practiced in other states, but our government has consciously worked for the well-being of each and every denizen. This shows that our policies are influenced by Ram Rajya from Day 1."
On being questioned about sitting BJP MPs not being repeated as candidates across different constituencies, the Chief Minister said that this shows that the BJP is scared. He stated, "The AAP candidates have sent shivers down their spines. They (BJP) have changed their candidates wherever they are contesting against the AAP candidates, both in Assam and Delhi. Let's wait for them to announce their candidates in Kurukshetra and Gujarat."
Another reporter questioned the CM about the accounts of the announcements made in the last two budgets regarding the Rozgar Budget and Road Infrastructure. The Chief Minister responded, "I believe that Atishi's speech today was divided into two parts. The first part majorly focused on the development and improvement that has taken place in Delhi in the last 10 years since we took over. We have extensively discussed what Delhi was before and after these 10 years. The first part focused on the accounts of what we've done so far, you can refer to the speech for all the details of our achievements so far. We have added another 22,000 classrooms to the existing 24,000 classrooms. We have established 530 Mohalla clinics in Delhi so far. We have given free treatments, tests, and medicines through these primary health facilities. Regarding the Rozgar Budget, we were able to bring the unemployment rate down substantially in the past two years. The unemployment rate has reduced from 5.3% to 1.9%, which is a remarkable achievement."
In response to a question that the people from neighbouring states are thinking of getting enrolled as citizens of Delhi to enjoy the benefits provided by Delhi Government, the National Convenor of AAP said that if these people choose us in their states, then they can also enjoy these benefits.
As for the delay in the implementation of the solar power scheme in Delhi, Shri Arvind Kejriwal replied, “I request the LG to not stop this scheme. This scheme is for the people of Delhi, the citizens of India. Let's not do politics in these things, it’s not right. When I announced that scheme, I was overwhelmed with calls, people were appreciating the scheme. People using up to 200 units of electricity are getting zero bills, and this scheme, once implemented, would further help more people in getting free electricity and zero bills. I'm also being told by some sources that the Centre is trying to copy this scheme and introduce it in their name. This is their agenda _ to introduce their solar energy scheme first. They would not approve our scheme until the Central government introduces this scheme."
In reply to a question by a reporter whether this is the last budget before the next Assembly elections, Atishi said, "Like I said, we're confident and hopeful that we will be presenting the Budget over the next 5 years as well."
The Chief Minister rhetorically added, "Unless they (the BJP led central government) declare Delhi as a full UT."
The Chief Minister further appealed to the people of Delhi for Lok Sabha elections by saying, "I only have one thing to say, that Delhiites have to choose. People from Tamil Nadu choose the party from Tamil Nadu. People from Kerala also choose their own. If Delhiites also start doing the same and choose their MP from Delhi only, then our strength will increase, we will be powerful and our confidence in fighting against the Centre for the rights of Delhiites will also get the much-needed boost. At the moment, I'm alone in this fight against the central government and the LG. If I'll have the seven seats with me, then my strength will increase."
"I appeal to the people of Delhi to increase our strength. You have given us the 67 seats before and we took that as your blessing. I expect the same support from you in the coming elections as well, so that we can continue fighting for your rights. I'm not asking for these seats for my personal agendas, not for getting my children settled. I'm appealing for these seats for your rights, for your children, for your happiness, and for your family. The more support and strength I get from you, the more work I'll be able to do for Delhi", he added.
As for the manifesto of AAP and Congress for the seven seats in Lok Sabha elections, Arvind Kejriwal said they are more focused on the manifesto of the AAP at the moment and are yet to discuss the plan of action with the Congress for the upcoming elections.
When asked what is Delhi Government's plan for students who want to pursue higher education abroad, CM Arvind Kejriwal said that we have a scheme where the student can take a loan without any mortgage or without selling off any jewellery. Delhi government will take your guarantee. Once the student completes their education, they can get a job there and pay off the loan within 15 years in easy EMIs. The Delhi Government offers various schemes for higher education, which we must advertise about so that more students come to know about our schemes, he added.
Meanwhile, in response to a question about his views on the BJP’s new campaign 'Modi ka Parivaar', the Chief Minister said, "I have no idea about the same. I am assuming that they consider their cabinet ministers as their Parivaar (family) but I consider the 2 crore people of Delhi as my family."
