All these schemes are fully sponsored by the states. Then there are 53 ministries under the Union government that run 315 DBT schemes. Of these, 13 are related to the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The ministry has an abysmal track record in implementing the schemes and ranks 31 in the DBT Performance Rankings.
Let me begin by sharing a few startling statistics. India’s female labour force participation rate is just 28 per cent. One out of three young people is not engaged in education, employment or training, with women making up 95 per cent of this group. For every five men in managerial positions, only one is a woman. India ranked 127th out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2023. Three out of 10 women in the age group of 18-49 years have experienced violence from their spouses as per a survey by Niti Aayog.
In election manifestos, speeches in Parliament or internal resolutions, every political party will tell you that there is “a need for women to be empowered, financially and socially”. That is easier said than done. The challenge is: How do you provide financial autonomy, or even a small degree of financial autonomy, when the majority of women are outside the purview of the labour force? Enter, Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT).
All the data from ground research that your columnist has gleaned on this subject indicates one important trend: Much of the income that comes through DBT is spent by the woman at her own discretion. Targeting low-income households through these schemes is especially beneficial as these households allocate a larger proportion of their income to basic necessities like food and fuel. This is evident from the fact that the bottom 20 per cent of rural households spend 53 per cent of their income on food, while urban households in the same bracket allocate 49 per cent. Given these patterns of high consumption, much of the money provided through DBT circulates back into the economy.
Now to the politics of DBT, which is not so cut and dried. Rolling out the scheme does not guarantee an election win. YSRCP’s Jagananna Amma Vodi, launched in January 2020, did not do the magic for Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh in June 2024. In Telangana, the story was different. KTR’s BRS must be ruing the fact that they didn’t have a similar DBT scheme in place. Congress’ Mahalakshmi Scheme, adapted from their own Karnataka (Gruha Lakshmi) model and swiftly introduced after the big Telangana Assembly win in 2023, paid rich electoral dividends in the 18th Lok Sabha election.
Let’s look at Maharashtra and the DBT play. The state government announced the Ladki Bahin scheme in the budget this June. The first tranche reached the bank accounts of women in August. The second tranche is likely to reach beneficiaries mid-October. Is this the primary reason why the Maharashtra elections were not announced along with elections in Haryana, and Jammu & Kashmir? Will the Ladki Bahin scheme be enough to secure the NDA government? Or will the heinous sexual assault on two children in Badlapur be a flashpoint? Let your columnist stick his neck out and call a win for the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition later this year.
Besides Maharashtra, NDA states like Assam and Madhya Pradesh run similar schemes. Opposition states running DBT schemes for women are Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab. West Bengal has Lakshmir Bhandar. Amartya Sen’s Pratichi Trust, analysing Bengal’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, opined that cash incentives have enhanced women’s ability to make financial decisions and improved their position within the family. The study stated that four out of five women spend the money at their will, and one out of 10 decide how to spend the money after chatting with their husbands. Also, the women themselves had reported that their position in the family improved, empowering them in reality.
All these schemes are fully sponsored by the states. Then there are 53 ministries under the Union government that run 315 DBT schemes. Of these, 13 are related to the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The ministry has an abysmal track record in implementing the schemes and ranks 31 in the DBT Performance Rankings. Intriguingly, there is no central scheme that directly transfers financial support universally to all women or specifically targets low-income women (the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana gives financial support to pregnant and lactating mothers).
In an election speech earlier this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on record, “We (BJP) will not stop the DBT scheme (Lakshmir Bhandar). In fact, we will raise the assistance by Rs 100.” It isn’t only Shah who is impressed. The IMF has called India’s DBT schemes a “logistical marvel”. So, should we wait for a national rollout? This will, in a small way, help change for the better the statistics mentioned in the opening of this column.
The writer is MP and leader, All India Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party (Rajya Sabha). Research by Dheemunt Jain
