Subhadra Yojana: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday on September 17, 2024, launched Subhadra Yojana in Odisha, a scheme aimed at empowering women in the state. Named after Goddess Subhadra, who is Lord Jagannath’s sister, the initiative has been designed to provide assistance to over 1 crore women aged between 21 to 60 years.
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Each eligible woman enrolled in the scheme is entitled to receive a total sum of Rs 50,000 over a span of five years, starting from the fiscal year 2024-25. The financial aid will be disbursed in annual instalments of Rs 10,000, delivered in two equal parts directly into their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.
The transfers will be made in two instalments of Rs 5,000 each, on two significant occasions annually. The first instalment will be on Rakhi Purnima (Raksha Bandhan), a festival that typically falls in August, and the second instalment will be on International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8th each year. More than 50 lakh women have already registered for the scheme.
During the inaugural event, which will be presided by PM Modi, funds are being electronically transferred to the accounts of more than 10 lakh women, marking the beginning of this expansive and impactful program dedicated to empowering women in the state.
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What is Subhadra Yojana?
The Subhadra scheme was a pre-poll commitment of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Assembly and Parliament elections. After it ended the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) 24-year governance in the state, the BJP designed the ‘Subhadra’ scheme to empower women.
The scheme boasts an impressive budget of Rs 55,825 crore allocated for the upcoming five years (2024-2029). Under the Subhadra scheme, eligible women beneficiaries between the ages of 21 and 60 are entitled to receive annual financial assistance amounting to Rs 10,000. This financial support will be disbursed in two installments of Rs 5,000 each. Consequently, qualified women beneficiaries will receive a total sum of Rs 50,000 over the span of five years.
The Modi government has established a robust infrastructure that seamlessly integrates with the JAM trinity, comprising Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar numbers and the mobile numbers of the beneficiaries.
How will the project work
The registration for the Subhadra Yojana commenced on September 1, marking the initiation of the cash assistance scheme for women. Under this scheme, the monetary aid will be transferred directly to the designated Aadhaar-enabled individual bank accounts of the beneficiaries. In adherence to government regulations, the completion of e-KYC is mandatory for all applicants. Upon approval, beneficiaries will be furnished with a Subhadra Debit Card for seamless transactions.
Furthermore, an auxiliary incentive of Rs 500 will be granted to the top 100 beneficiaries with the highest volume of digital transactions within each gram panchayat and urban local body region.
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Eligibility
Women belonging to economically privileged backgrounds such as those from affluent families, government employees, and individuals who pay income tax will not qualify for the scheme. Also, women who are already receiving assistance of Rs 1,500 per month or more (or Rs 18,000 per year) under any other government initiative will be ineligible.
Odisha has seen a significant turnout of women at banks, post offices, and common service centres eager to sign up for or review their information under this scheme. Registration will remain open until all eligible recipients have been enrolled, with no specified deadline for the process to conclude.
Impact of Subhadra Yojana
One crore women in Odisha currently hold Jan Dhan bank accounts, paving the way for effective implementation of the Subhadra scheme and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to female beneficiaries. Economists have projected that providing an annual financial aid of Rs 10,000 per eligible woman through the Subhadra scheme could result in a multiplier effect, contributing Rs 50,000 to the economy per woman. This calculated approach indicates that the total allocated expenditure of Rs 55,825 crore over five years for the scheme has the potential to generate benefits nearing 2.5 lakh crore for the state’s economy.
