UP election 2022: Samajwadi Party promises Rs 1500/month pension to poor women

LUCKNOW: After announcing 300 units of free power to domestic users, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday promised Rs 18,000 annual (Rs 1,500 per month) 'Samajwadi' pension to all poor women in the state once the party forms the government after the 2022 assembly polls.
After the SP came to power in 2012, it had announced a monthly pension of Rs 500 to poor women which was distributed through direct bank transfer (DBT) system that was put to use with an expanded network of banks in rural areas.Now, the party has promised a two-fold increase in the Samajwadi pension that will be given if the SP government is formed.
The SP's previous 'Samajwadi' pension scheme for women had made headlines after the government appointed film star Vidya Balan as an ambassador for the scheme who featured in promos that were rolled out to rope in more and more beneficiaries.
When the scheme was launched for the first time in the previous Samajwadi Party government, it was an instant hit, the former UP CM said. "I remember coming across a news report highlighting the plight of women in the Musar community in Varanasi. I asked the then district magistrate to list all of them under the scheme. Similarly, Kushinagar DM had approached the government for some additional funds to help local women and we got them enrolled under this pension scheme. In Bundelkhand, we conducted a special drive to identify and enroll beneficiaries," Akhilesh recalled.
"This time we will reach out to women, particularly those who could no longer contribute to the family's earnings owing to old age, and enroll them apart from any woman who was not earning and came under the below poverty line category," said SP national secretary and chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary. Such sops not only help women financially, but also bring them respect and importance in the family," Chaudhary said.
The Samajwadi pension is the second major announcement that SP has made to the people of UP. Earlier the party had promised 300 units of free power to domestic users apart from free power to farmers for irrigation, revolving fund for cane procurement, interest free loans for agriculture purposes.
The party has already worked on a methodology through which the financial burden of these welfare schemes will be shared and the party's election manifesto will have such details related to each and every scheme.