Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday reached out to women in the BJP-ruled state by launching a scheme to provide Rs 1,000 monthly aid and slammed the previous Congress government for "stopping" welfare measures meant for women, months ahead of the Assembly polls.

Chouhan, who is celebrating his 65th birthday on Sunday, appealed to women to continue to support the state government and listed various schemes launched for their welfare. Addressing a gathering of women at Jamboree Maidan in the MP capital, the chief minister knelt before the audience with folded hands and said, "Pranam and Namaskar... you mean Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati to me", and announced that "Ladli Behna Sena" will be formed to straighten wrongdoers.

He rolled out the 'Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana' by unveiling the plaque of the scheme with remote control and filling out an application form for a woman.

Under this scheme, women will be given Rs 1,000 assistance per month with certain riders, including that they are not Income Tax payees and their families' annual income was below Rs 2.50 lakh annually.

"The (erstwhile) Kamal Nath government (of Congress) stopped the 'Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana' for 15 months after coming to power in the state in December 2018," Chouhan said.

Besides, the Nath government had also abandoned a scheme under which financial assistance was being given to poor women belonging to three scheduled tribe (ST) communities, he said.

Chouhan said the idea of 'Ladli Behna Yojana' for women's empowerment struck him at 4 am one day, which he shared with his wife.

The chief minister recalled he had witnessed the discrimination between the boy and girl child in society and families and was pained at it.

He said when he became an MLA and MP, he got women of poor families married, but the number of such marriages was not too big.

Chouhan said he rolled out 'Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana' (under which the government provides financial help to married couples intending to end the dowry menace) after he became the chief minister (in November 2005), and the Ladli Laxmi Yojana for the girl child to turn her "lakhpati".

Under the "Ladli Laxmi" scheme, Rs 30,000 is deposited by the state government at the birth of a girl, followed by more instalments. "The beneficiary gets Rs 1.18 lakh after she turns 30," he added.

"Now a girl who secures first division marks in class 12 will get a Scooty instead of a bicycle," Chouhan added.

He listed different schemes being run for girls and women in MP.

The chief minister said the state government has decided to close down the 'ahatas' (dingy liquor bars near booze outlets) to ensure that women are not harassed.

"There will be no ahatas now (from the next fiscal)," Chouhan said, referring to the State Excise Policy.

Citing the law enacted earlier by the state government, Chouhan said rapists will be hanged.

He asked the audience whether they think that their brother (Chouhan) is doing good work, to which the women replied "yes".

"Is the BJP government good?..Tell me today will you all remain with us? We will work together. Will you help your brother?" he asked, again drawing an affirmative response.

"Stand up, take a resolve jointly that (you) will join and walk with your brother. Will work together. Take a vow saying 'we are with you (CM), with the BJP government and that you will walk along so that the government remains and continues doing good work and takes MP to new heights'," Chouhan said amid cheering by the crowd.

Through the 'Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Scheme', the government aims to reach out to one crore women in the state, where Assembly polls are to be held at the end of this year.

A provision of Rs 8,000 crore has been made for the scheme in the state Budget presented in the Assembly recently.

"Potential beneficiaries can submit forms from March 15 to April 30. After scrutiny, a list of beneficiaries will be put out on May 1 and the final list on May 31. The beneficiaries will start receiving financial aid in their accounts from June 10 and every month thereafter," Chouhan said.

The number of women voters in Madhya Pradesh is 2,60,23,733, and in at least 18 of the 230 Assembly segments in MP, they outnumber male voters. These include tribal-dominated Balaghat, Mandla, Dindori, Alirajpur and Jhabua districts.

The number of new women voters has gone up by 2.79 per cent, while it is 2.30 per cent for male voters, officials said. Of the 13.39 lakh new voters, 7.07 lakh are women, as per state officials.

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