Rs 5,000 cr allocation not enough, all 96L women in Haryana may not get Rs 2,100 aid

Presenting his first Budget as state’s Finance Minister, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini announced his government’s resolve to implement the “Lado Laxmi Yojana”, which aims at providing financial assistance of Rs 2,100 per month to women. He made a provision of Rs 5,000 crore for the ambitious scheme.

However, all 96 lakh women above the age of 18 in Haryana are unlikely to get the incentive, given the “inadequate allocation” in the 2025-26 Budget.

Sources said the Haryana Government would need a whopping Rs 2,016 crore a month, totaling around Rs 24,192 crore per annum to provide the financial assistance to every women above the age of 18.

Amount 'too little', says Congress

The Congress termed the Rs 5,000 crore allocation “too little” and asked the government to spell out the criteria to decide the beneficiaries

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The state government needs nearly Rs 24,192 crore a year to pay Rs 2,100 to the state’s 96 lakh women

CM Saini said the Rs 5,000 crore allocation was just the beginning and the criteria would be spelled out in due course

As soon as Saini announced the Rs 5,000-crore allocation in his Budget speech today, he faced a volley of questions from senior Congress leaders, including former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and BB Batra, urging him to spell out the criteria for grant of financial assistance to beneficiaries as the allocation was “inadequate” to meet the promised financial aid to the women.

On his part, Saini said the Rs 5,000 crore allocation was just a beginning and the criteria was being finalised for providing the financial assistance to the women. The financial assistance of Rs 2100 to the women was one of the major promises made by the BJP in the run-up to the October 5, 2024, Assembly elections.

State debt pegged at Rs 3.52L cr

Haryana debt has mounted to a whopping over Rs 3.52 lakh crore in the Budget estimates of 2025-26. It was Rs 3.17 lakh crore in 2024-25 and Rs 2.84 lakh crore in 2023-24

Expressing concern at the mounting debt, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda claimed that 30.26% of the Budget would go into to the repayment of the debt

However, CM Saini said the state’s economy was in good shape and debt was well within the limit set by various statutory bodies of the Central Government