AAP launches registration drive for women’s allowance scheme in Delhi | Latest News India
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday launched the registration drive for the “Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana”, under which women will receive monthly aid of ₹2,100, and “Sanjeevani Yojana”, which will provide free health care to senior citizens, with AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and chief minister Atishi undertaking registrations at East Kidwai Nagar around noon.
₹2,100. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)” title=”Beneficiaries in East Kidwai Nagar display their yellow cards that will allow them to avail of a monthly allowance of ₹2,100. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)” />As part of the drive, the names of potential beneficiaries and their phone numbers were cross-checked with the voters list, against the backdrop of the AAP alleging unwarranted deletion of voters from lists in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections in early 2025.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Delhi unit alleged that the registration was an eyewash and that forms for the honorarium being filled by AAP leaders were not official ones. Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva challenged Atishi to issue a statement from the CM’s office to clarify whether the forms filled were official.
The AAP said it matched voter IDs with the list on the Election Commission of India’s website, and those listed were immediately registered and issued yellow cards to avail of monthly aid. For others, Kejriwal assured to get them registered and enable them to avail of benefits from the two schemes.
Kejriwal said, “From today, the registration for the ‘Mahila Samman Yojana’ and ‘Sanjeevani Yojana’ has started across Delhi. We have started this initiative in my constituency (New Delhi). This yellow registration card is a special card for women. Everyone must keep this yellow card safe.”
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Dismissing concerns and queries over funds for the project, Kejriwal said he delivered free electricity, free water and free bus travel for women, and in a similar vein, will deliver on these two fronts as well. “I am promising ₹2,100 for women, and I will deliver that too. Don’t worry about where the budget will come from; that is my responsibility,” he said.
Reiterating his allegations over opposition parties deleting voters from lists, he said: “A sister told me that someone had got her vote cancelled. We will get her vote made again. But I want to tell all my mothers and sisters of Delhi that all of you should check your vote. It is necessary to have your name in the voter list to get ₹2,100 every month.”
CM Atishi termed the launch of two schemes a “new era of women empowerment.”
“We registered the initial beneficiaries of this scheme. Now, our sisters and daughters in Delhi will not have to depend on anyone for their small expenses,” she said.
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To be sure, the registration drive was undertaken by the AAP but no formal registration drive was undertaken by the government for either of the schemes.
Later in the evening, Kejriwal and Atishi launched the registration for the health care scheme and issued “Kavach” cards—blue cards in the shape of a visiting card—to senior citizens. Reiterating that treatment will be free for all, Kejriwal said: “All the elderly people of Delhi are like my parents; their treatment is my responsibility. Our team will register all the elderly by going door to door.”
Under the Sanjeevani scheme, the party has promised free health care for citizens above 60 years of age in private and public facilities. However, the finer details of the scheme and its finances have not yet been charted out.
For the monthly aid scheme, the Delhi cabinet on December 12 granted approval for a monthly allowance of ₹1,000 for women. On the same day, the AAP chief announced that the party will increase it to ₹2,100 if it returns to power after the Delhi polls. Kejriwal clarified that the first instalments under the scheme will only be credited after the elections.
Delhi BJP chief Sachdeva, on the Mahila Samman scheme, Delhi BJP questioned how registration could be undertaken without notification or budgetary provision. “People want government to stop spreading confusion and clarify how they will provide a ₹2,100 monthly honorarium when their Punjab government has not provided it since 2022.”
Discussing the Sanjeevani Yojana scheme, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor accused Kejriwal of betraying the elderly population. “Arvind Kejriwal, who presents himself as Shravan Kumar, should explain whether any son would deceive his parents with false dreams as he is doing now. Kejriwal’s real intention is to run a kickback scheme under the guise of private hospital treatment,” he said.
