Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said the state government had transferred ₹1,262.54 crore to the bank accounts of 36.87 lakh women under the second instalment of the Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojna.
The instalment covers October, November and December, with eligible women receiving three months’ assistance together, Mann said at a function in Sri Khandoor Sahib.
According to the chief minister, the government had earlier distributed ₹2,562.33 crore as Satkar Rashi among 73.99 lakh women. With Thursday’s disbursement, the total amount transferred under the scheme has reached ₹3,824.87 crore, he said.
Mann said there are no conditions attached to the scheme and that if multiple women in a household are eligible, each of them can receive
the assistance. He claimed that around 97% of women in Punjab would be eligible to benefit from the scheme.
The government has set a target of extending the scheme to one crore women, according to Mann.
He also said 1.37 lakh Satkar Sakhis had helped register women for the scheme and had received more than ₹51 crore in incentives. Anganwadi workers involved in facilitating registrations will also receive incentives, he said.
Mann said the scheme was intended to provide women with financial support and greater economic independence. His remarks about the scheme’s impact and reach were part of the state government’s presentation of the initiative.
The chief minister also linked the scheme to the government’s wider welfare programme, citing free electricity, free bus travel for women, education initiatives, jobs and infrastructure projects.
Mann said the state government had been using public revenue for welfare and development schemes and highlighted the laying of 14,000 km of pipelines for taking canal water to agricultural fields.
On education, Mann cited the Centre’s assessment of school education and said Punjab had moved from 27th position to first. He also said the number of students from Punjab government schools clearing NEET had increased to 882 this year, compared with 80 when his government took office.
The chief minister also said the government planned to open new centres for UPSC preparation and claimed that the pace of development in the state would increase between 2027 and 2032.
Mann later turned to politics, saying the Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal would discontinue welfare schemes such as the Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojna, free bus travel for women and free electricity if they came to power. This was his political assertion and was not accompanied by any specific policy statements from those parties in the material provided.
The event was attended by Cabinet Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO and others.
