NEW DELHI, July 31 -- Applicants for the Delhi government's Rs.2,500 per month cash payout scheme for women will have to submit a letter of recommendation from the Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of their constituency, documents reviewed by HT show.

This requirement, coming on top of other restrictive eligibility criteria, may whittle down the potential pool of beneficiaries of the Delhi Lakshmi Yojana scheme from the 1.7 million initially estimated by the state government. For the record, Delhi has 70 MLAs, including 48 from the BJP and the rest from the Aam Aadmi Party, and seven MPs, who will have to sign these letters of recommendation.

"The government earlier had the same requirement for the wi...