Jharkhand’s newly inducted finance minister Radha Krishna Kishore accepted that arranging funds for the flagship Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana, a monthly financial assistance for over 50 lakh women beneficiaries, is a challenge which the new government is confident of fulfilling.

Speaking to reporters in Ranchi, the 66-year-old Congress MLA from Chhatarpur who holds the second most important portfolio after chief minister Hemant Soren in the 12-member Jharkhand cabinet, said arranging funds for the flagship women assistance scheme which would see an increased amount being sent to the beneficiaries from December will be a challenge.

“Doling out ₹2,500 every month to over 50 lakh women beneficiaries from December (till November it was ₹1,000 per month) will be a challenge for the government but under the leadership of Hemant Sorenji we have accepted it and it is not worrisome, we are rather confident of achieving it with augmentation of revenue collection,” said Kishore.

The minister said till November this year, the women-assistance scheme incurred ₹7,500 crore on the state exchequer.

“With the number of beneficiaries increasing each day and the amount enhanced to ₹2,500 we expect it to cost the exchequer by around ₹18,000 crore. We have planned to increase revenue generation augmenting collection, especially from mining, excise and revenue department,” said Kishore.

The Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana which gave ₹1,000 to poor women in the age bracket of 18-50 years is being credited by poll experts as the reason for Hemant Soren retaining power with an increased mandate in the Assembly elections held last month with the alliance of JMM-Congress-RJD-CPIML winning 56 out of the 81-member Assembly seats.

The ruling alliance had announced increasing the cash benefit transfer amount to ₹2,500 if voted to power from December and in the first cabinet meeting after the swearing-in ceremony on November 28, Hemant gave the nod to increase the amount to ₹2,500.

“We have 40 per cent mineral resources and can increase revenue collection by granting licenses and operational power. We can also increase revenue from the excise and revenue department,” added Kishore.

Kishore cited the case of the neighbouring state of Odisha saying: “Odisha collects between ₹30,000 to ₹40,000 crore from the mining sector while we collect around ₹15,000 crore from the mining sector.”

Hemant on Monday during a review meeting soon after assuming charge asked the top brass in the state bureaucracy to pull up their socks to speed up revenue collection and explore possibilities for new sources of additional revenue collection.

The state government needs a huge amount of additional funds during the current fiscal to fulfil its promises of ₹2,500 honorarium to every woman in the 18-50 age group, subsidised LPG cylinders and free power up to 200 units among others.

The chief minister also said that revenue management should be strengthened. “Along with this, steps should be taken to control wastage of revenue and establishment expenditure,” he added.