Rs 1,500, a Drone and a Vote: How Cash and Credit Schemes Are Rewriting Women’s Politics

On a winter morning in Nagpur, Rukmini-bai receives an SMS: Rs 1,500 has been deposited into her bank account under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin ‘Yojana, Maharashtra’s flagship scheme that pays eligible women a monthly stipend.

- ‘TDG NETWORK

Representative image.

In Shimla, 28-year-old Meena waits anxiously for her Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi instalment of Rs 1,500. In Jharkhand, Self-Help Group (SHG) member Sunita is learning to operate an agricultural drone as part of the Namo Drone Didi initiative. Together, these schemes illustrate how direct cash transfers and credit to women have become a new battleground for political parties. Are they empowering women or merely creating grateful beneficiaries for upcoming elections?THE RS 1,500 MOMENT: CASH AS A MONTHLY RIGHT

Maharashtra’s Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana provides Rs 1,500 per month via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to women aged 21-65 years. Eligibility requires a personal bank account linked to Aadhaar; beneficiaries include married, widowed, divorced and abandoned women and one unmarried woman per family. Families with annual income above Rs 2.5 lakh and those already receiving more than Rs 1,500 in other schemes are excluded. The state had planned to deposit pending instalments for 2.52 crore beneficiaries by March 2025 to coincide with International Women’s Day. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde calls the scheme a measure of economic independence and nutrition support.