SHIMLA: Facing criticism for not honouring a poll promise of giving Rs 1,500 per month to women in the age bracket of 18 to 59, the Himachal Pradesh government issued a notification on Thursday for granting pension under the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana.
On March 4, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced that the state government would give Rs 1,500 per month to women and said a sum of Rs 800 crore would be spent on the initiative, benefiting more than five lakh women annually.
According to the notification, income-tax payers, women monks permanently staying in monasteries, family members of employees, pensioners of central and state governments and employees of panchayati raj institutions, local bodies and public sector undertakings of the state and central governments will not get the amount.
The other categories excluded from the pension are contractual employees, outsourced employees, daily wagers, part-time employees, ex-servicemen and their widows, anganwadi workers and helpers, Asha workers, mid-day meal workers, multi-task workers and beneficiaries of social security pension.
Providing Rs 1,500 monthly to women was one of the 10 “guarantees” given by the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh ahead of the Assembly polls.