Delhi Pension Scheme to Women in Distress notified

The Department of Women and Child Development of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi has recently notified the National Capital Territory of Delhi Pension Scheme to Women in Distress in the age group of 18 to 60 years Rules, 2010. The objective of these Rules is to "provide social security by way of financial assistance to widows, divorced, separated, abandoned, deserted or destitute women in the age group of 18 to 60 years who have no adequate means of subsistence and are poor, needy and vulnerable".

Applicable for all “Women in Distress”, who have been defined under these rules as "any widowed, divorced, separated, abandoned, deserted/destitute women or victims of domestic violence above the age of 18 till 60 years", these Rules provide for grant of assistance to such woman at the rate of "Rs. one thousand per month per head remitted to the bank account of the beneficiary on a quarterly basis". The eligibility criteria in order to receive the grant under these Rules is four-fold, requiring the satisfaction of the following conditions;

1. She has been residing in Delhi for more than 5 years preceding the date of application;
2. Her family’s annual income does not exceed Rs. 60,000 (Rs. sixty thousand);
3. She has a ‘singly-operated’ account in any Bank for receiving the payment, through electronic clearing system; and 
4. she is not receiving any pension from Central Govt./State Govt./MCD and/or NDMC or any other source for his purpose.

The Rules provide the procedure to apply for the grant and also the conditions under which the grant once granted can be stopped or modified. While the quantum of the grant may arguably be on the lesser side, indeed the objective and the laud-ability of these grants cannot be disputed. A welcome step from the Delhi Government.