Chandigarh, March 29 – The Punjab Cabinet on Sunday approved the ‘Mukh Mantri Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojna’, under which women will receive a monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000, while those belonging to the Scheduled Castes will receive Rs 1,500 a month.
The scheme will benefit more than 97 per cent of women in Punjab, according to an official statement, detailing the decisions made at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
The scheme is a key election promise of the ruling AAP in the run-up to the 2022 Punjab elections, and it has now been launched, a year before the state goes to the polls again.
Under the scheme, women aged 18 years or older, who are registered as voters in the state with a valid Aadhaar card reflecting Punjab residency and a valid Voter ID issued by the Election Commission, are eligible to receive the benefits.
Addressing an event in Fatehgarh Sahib on Saturday, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had said, "With this scheme, we have fulfilled all our guarantees (promises made during the 2022 Punjab polls)."
The statement quoted the chief minister's office (CMO) as saying that the scheme will have a "significant impact" on the upliftment of women by empowering them to become financially independent.
"It will give them the freedom to make their own choices, and when combined with financial literacy, it will promote savings, thrift, and investment, enabling them to fulfill their small desires," the statement said.
The scheme is designed as a direct benefit transfer (DBT) initiative, under which the financial assistance will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
There are no restrictions on the number of eligible women in a family who may receive the benefits under the scheme, and existing social security pensioners will also continue to receive their full financial benefits in addition to their pensions.
"Punjab has already made significant progress in social welfare and human development indicators; however, a large number of women across the state, particularly those from economically vulnerable households, continue to lack independent financial security."
"Strengthening women's financial autonomy is essential for improving household welfare, promoting gender equality, and enhancing women's participation in social and economic decision-making," the statement said.
Highlighting the scale of the initiative, it said, "The scheme is expected to benefit more than 97 per cent of women, making it one of the most comprehensive women-centric social protection initiatives in the country."
To ensure effective implementation, the government will undertake outreach and enrolment efforts, including mobilizing support to assist women in completing documentation, activating bank accounts, and ensuring seamless registration, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
According to the statement, Rs 9,300 crore has already been sanctioned in the Budget for the financial year 2026-27, and, given the scale and outreach of the scheme, it is expected to become one of the largest women-centric social welfare initiatives undertaken by the Punjab government.
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema had announced the scheme in his Budget speech in the Assembly on March 8.
The Cabinet also gave its consent to amendments in the policy for the conversion of leasehold industrial plots/sheds to freehold.
Now, industrial plots mortgaged to banks or financial institutions will be eligible for conversion to freehold, subject to the submission of a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the concerned bank and compliance with the prescribed safeguards.
A conversion fee of 5 per cent will apply where the current title documents do not contain any clause relating to unearned increase, regardless of its presence in earlier title documents.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to introduce the Punjab Common Infrastructure (Regulation and Maintenance) Amendment Bill, 2026, to reform the Punjab Common Infrastructure (Regulation and Maintenance) Act, 2012, to strengthen the effectiveness, transparency, and financial sustainability of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for better management of industrial areas.
The proposed amendments are aimed at addressing administrative and operational challenges that have emerged over the years due to the expansion of industrial parks and the emergence of new industrial clusters outside the notified industrial estates, the statement said.
It will also create a streamlined system for the collection and utilisation of service charges for the maintenance of common infrastructure such as roads, street lights, parks, security, drainage systems, and other shared facilities in the industrial areas.
The SPVs will be created in all the industrial areas, which will be registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
They will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of common infrastructure within the industrial areas on a no-profit, no-loss basis.
Also, a district monitoring authority will be established to oversee the functioning of the SPVs and provide an institutional mechanism for monitoring and dispute resolution.
"The Cabinet also gave its nod for relaxing the conditions for desilting in the Sutlej River to provide simple earth to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the construction of various highway projects in the state."
"This is part of the various initiatives being taken by the Department of Water Resources involving the excavation of longitudinal channels in the major rivers across Punjab as part of its broader river management and flood mitigation efforts," the statement said.