Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said the Rs 1,000 per month that is being given to women beneficiaries as part of the state government's Ladli Behna scheme will be hiked three times in a phased manner.
The announcement about the scheme, which covers close to 1.25 crore women, comes ahead of the year-end Assembly polls in the state.
"The annual amount of Rs 12,000 (under the Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Scheme) will be hiked to Rs 36,000 per year in a phased manner," he said at the function here, during which he also sang some lines from the hit song 'Phoolon ka Taaron ka' from yesteryear blockbuster 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' extolling the love between brothers and sisters.
The scheme will make them self-reliant and women will not have to depend on their husbands (for finance) to go to their maternal homes, the CM said.
Incidentally, women comprise 2,60,23,733 of the 5,39,87,876 voters in the state.
During his address, Chouhan also praised the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said it was taking the country to new heights of development.
"In the nine golden years under the PM, our country has made rapid strides in all spheres and has become the crown of the world," he said at the function in Vijaypur also attended by Union Ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narendra Tomar.
Chouhan said PM Modi had rolled out the ambitious cheetah reintroduction project in the Kuno National Park here, which would boost the tourism sector in the state's backward Chambal region.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, in his address, said, Vijaypur and Karhal areas in Sheopur did not have access to safe drinking water before 2003 (when the BJP came to power in the state) but now had an abundance of potable water and self-reliant in irrigation.
Scindia said development works worth several crore rupees was underway in Sheopur and Chambal areas.