Chandigarh, Aug. 29 -- The BJP government in Haryana on Thursday decided to implement its 2024 poll promise of providing monthly financial assistance of Rs.2,100 to women in the state under the Laado Laxmi Yojana. In the first phase, about 20 lakh women will get the benefit from this scheme costing the state exchequer about Rs.5,000 crore annually. The Council of Ministers on Thursday approved the Laado Laxmi Yojana, a social security scheme to be launched on September 25 on the birth anniversary of Bhartiya Jana Sangh co-founder Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. The scheme will be named after him. While the state government is still doing the number crunching to establish the count of beneficiaries, it has been decided that as per the provisions of the scheme, all women (married as well unmarried) who are 23 and above as on September 25, 2025, will be eligible to avail the benefits. However, only women whose family's annual income is less than Rs.1 lakh will be eligible in the first phase of implementation. "The financial implication of the scheme could well be less than Rs.5,000 crore in the first year of the implementation as the actual number of beneficiaries may turn out to be about 17-18 lakhs during the enrolment exercise,'' said an official. The state government has also decided an exclusion criteria under which women availing benefits of nine social security schemes -Old Age Samman Allowance, Financial Assistance to Widows and Destitute Women, Haryana Divyang Pension, Ladli Social Security Allowance, Financial Assistance to Kashmiri Migrants Families, Allowance to Dwarfs, Financial Assistance to Women and Girls Acid Attack Victims, Financial Assistance to Widower and Unmarried Persons Scheme 2023, and Haryana Gaurav Samman Scheme for the Padma Awardees, will not be entitled for the benefits of Laado Laxmi Yojana. An official spokesperson said gradually other income groups will also be brought under the ambit of this scheme in a phased manner. For availing the benefits under this scheme, it will be mandatory for the unmarried applicant, or the husband in the case of a married applicant, to be a resident of Haryana for the last 15 years. There will be no restriction on the number of beneficiaries from a single family. For instance, if three women in a household are eligible, all three will receive the benefit. The Council of Ministers also decided that applicants suffering from stage 3 and 4 cancer, any of the 54 listed rare diseases as well as haemophilia, thalassemia, and sickle cell disease, who are already receiving pension benefits, will also be entitled to the benefit of the Laado Laxmi Yojana. Once an unmarried beneficiary completes 45 years of age, she will automatically become eligible for financial assistance scheme for widows and destitute women. Similarly, upon attaining the age of 60, a woman beneficiary will automatically qualify for the old age samman allowance pension scheme. Chief minister Nayab Saini had made a provision of Rs.5,000 crore in the 2025-26 budget estimates for implementing the Lado Lakshmi Yojana. Saini had said that the scheme focuses on empowering the most marginalised sections of society by strengthening their financial autonomy. As per the budget estimates, a financial assistance amount to Rs.2,100 per month, or as revised and notified by the state government from time to time, will be given to the eligible beneficiaries as Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) through the public finance management system (PFMS)....