Promised: Hiked stipends for poor, aid for homeless

Chief minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday proposed a number of social welfare initiatives in Delhi, including an increase in financial assistance to senior citizens, crèche facilities for the children of economically weaker women who work, rehabilitation of the homeless, and revamping cow shelters, as she presented a ₹1 lakh crore budget for the financial year 2025-26.

- Hemani Bhandari

NEW DELHI:

The social welfare and development sector has been allocated ₹10,047 crore in this year's budget—more than 10% of the total budget allocation for the fiscal, and a comprehensive increase over last year's outlay of ₹6,694 crore.

"It is the commitment of the Delhi government that no one sleeps hungry, no one remains helpless, and every person gets the right to live a life with dignity. Our Capital should not only become a symbol of modern infrastructure and economic development, but the benefits of this development should reach all sections of the society equally," Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, said in her over two-hour long speech.

The CM said a majority of the ₹10,047 crore outlay—₹9,780 crore—has been allocated for schemes and projects of the social welfare, women and child development, and SC/ST welfare departments.

The schemes are designed to benefit more than 950,000 beneficiaries, including 402,000 senior citizens, 418,000 widows and women in distress, and 130,000 persons with disabilities, she said.