It has been a year since Rekha Gupta took oath as chief minister, but the women of Delhi have not received the Rs 2,500 they were promised every month.

A centrepiece of the BJP’s Delhi campaign was the Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, a promise to deposit Rs 2,500 per month into the accounts of women aged 21-60 from low-income households. Calling it ‘Modi’s guarantee’, the prime minister said that money would soon start arriving in their accounts after the first cabinet meeting. 

As CM-designate, Gupta had set the original deadline for crediting the money on March 8 last year – International Women’s Day. As chief minister, she missed that deadline; instead, on that day, her cabinet approved the scheme, allocated Rs 5,100 crore from the budget, and constituted a high-level committee – chaired by Gupta and including ministers Parvesh Sahib Singh, Kapil Mishra, and Ashish Sood – to finalise the eligibility criteria, norms, and implementation.

Nearly a year later, Delhi’s women are still waiting for that money. What’s more, speaking to the Navbharat Times about the status of the scheme last week, Gupta said: “Every leader has their own priorities. Right now, the priority is to meet the city’s needs. Then, the distribution of the Rs 2,500 will be implemented.”

Newslaundry spoke to potential beneficiaries of the scheme. Sameena, a resident of T-Camp in Delhi’s Patparganj area said: “We voted for him [Modi]. He promised to give money to women, but we haven't received any yet.”

Newslaundry also spoke to BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar, who claimed, “Work on the scheme is underway, committees have been formed, but nothing has been implemented on the ground yet.”

Meanwhile, according to The Indian Express earlier this week, the BJP government is likely to launch the portal for its scheme by February 23. 

The BJP also promised one-time financial assistance of Rs 21,000 and nutrition kits for pregnant women under the Mukhya Mantri Matritva Suraksha Yojana and financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to low-income families for their daughters' marriages under another scheme.

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