Himachal Pradesh's government on Thursday issued a notification granting pension to women under the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana. The decision was taken after the Himachal administration faced criticism for failing to fulfill an election pledge to provide Rs 1,500 monthly to women aged 18 to 59 years.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu declared on March 4 that the state government would provide Rs 1,500 monthly to women, allocating Rs 800 crore for the program, benefiting over five lakh women each year.
According to the notification, income-tax payers, women monks permanently staying in monasteries, family members of employees, pensioners of central and state governments, and employees of Panchayati raj institutions, local bodies, and public sector undertakings of the state and central governments will not get the amount.
The other categories excluded from the pension are contractual employees, outsourced employees, daily wagers, part-time employees, ex-servicemen, and their widows, anganwadi workers and helpers, Asha workers, mid-day meal workers, multi-task workers, and beneficiaries of social security pension.
Providing Rs 1,500 monthly to women was one of the 10 "guarantees" given by the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh ahead of the Assembly polls.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur had accused Sukhu of misleading women as the Congress had promised to give Rs 1,500 per month to women in the age group of 18 to 60 years. There are around 22 lakh women in the said age group in Himachal Pradesh.
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