Punjab Budget: Big announcement of this state government, women will get Rs 1000 every month

Punjab Budget: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has announced a big plan for women before the 2027 assembly elections. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the government has announced the launch of ‘Mukhyamantri Mavan-Dhiyan Satkar Yojana’. Under this scheme, every adult woman in the state will be given financial assistance of ₹ 1000 every month, while women belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category will get ₹ 1500 per month.

To implement this scheme, the Punjab government has made a provision of ₹9,300 crore in the budget for the financial year 2026–27.

Women above 18 years of age will get benefits

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema told in the Assembly that under this scheme, money will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of all women above 18 years of age. He said that this would be the world’s first universal Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme being launched for women.

However, some categories have been excluded from the scheme. These include current or former permanent government employees, current or former MPs and MLAs and income tax paying women.

Women taking pension will also be eligible

According to the government, women who are already taking social security schemes like old age pension, widow or destitute women pension and disabled pension will also be able to avail the benefits of this scheme.

The Finance Minister said that about 97% of adult women of Punjab will be covered under this scheme, which will be the highest coverage for women in any state.

Targeted at Haryana government

Speaking in the Assembly, Finance Minister Harpal Cheema also targeted the BJP government of neighboring state Haryana. He said that there is an income limit fixed in such schemes, due to which only about 20% women are able to avail the benefits.

He said that the Punjab government does not make slogans and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is not just the Chief Minister of 20% women but of every woman in the state.

Objective of making women economically strong

The government says that the objective of this scheme is to make women economically self-reliant, increase their participation in household decisions and improve the level of education, health and nutrition.

The government believes that this will help girl students studying in college to buy books, girls preparing for competitive exams to take coaching and meet their household needs.

Free bus travel for women also continues

The Punjab government has also announced to continue the facility of free bus travel for women. The Finance Minister said that in the last one year, women have taken about 12 crore free bus journeys under this scheme.

To continue this facility, a provision of ₹ 600 crore has been kept in the budget for the financial year 2026–27.