Specifics are still being worked out, and if Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentions this in her budget address, it will present its own set of difficulties.
Bengaluru: To strengthen demand and consumption in the one area where it has lagged, the government is considering a cash transfer program for low-income urban women ahead of the Union Budget 2024. According to DH, details are still being finalized.
If Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentions this step in her budget address, it will present its difficulties. Specifically, naming the recipients and the fact that once declared, a giveaway program of this kind can only be discontinued in the following years if it faces political fallout. Nonetheless, several states have already implemented comparable programs—Maharashtra being the most recent—and senior Central authorities acknowledge the necessity of providing aid to a specific demographic. The urban poor are a particularly susceptible population since domestic consumption has primarily been driven by the wealthy and upper middle class in urban areas, while the rural economy is also growing due to hopes of a robust monsoon.
On July 23, Sitharaman will deliver the Union Budget 2024. A cash transfer program for urban women in the unorganized sector has been discussed. The Union Finance Ministry is considering it, and the ‘e-shram’ portal can be used to identify recipients, according to an official informed of the talks. Workers in the unorganized sector can access the Union Labor Ministry’s database through the “e-shram” portal.
The government prioritizes encouraging consumption among the urban lower-income category, according to the source cited above. India’s major economy continues to develop at the quickest rate in the world, but a large portion of that growth has been attributed to public investment in infrastructure. In the meanwhile, household consumption is still comparatively low.
However, government advisors and officials are well aware of the difficulties. These kinds of poverty or cash giveaway programs are ongoing initiatives. Should the government be forced to abandon this kind of program, political repercussions will follow. Thus, that factor needs to be balanced with the financial situation, according to a second source who was informed of the events. According to both sources, discussions are still ongoing over the precise terms and cost of a cash-transfer plan. Whether or not the proposal is included in Sitharaman’s budget address will be largely determined by input from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Maharashtra government has unveiled a cash transfer program that offers qualified women in the age range of 21 to 60 Rs 1,500 each month. The government of the state will have to spend Rs 46,000 crore. Before this, in March, the government of Delhi declared the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, which provides an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month to all women above the age of eighteen. Taxpayers, recipients of government pension plans, and government workers will not be eligible for the program.
Similar programs are run by administrations in eight additional states, including Tamil Nadu, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, and West Bengal and Karnataka, whose five “guarantees” included giving qualified women cash support of Rs 2,000 per month.
