Odisha To Roll Out Subhadra Plus, Govt To Fund Marriage Of Poor Girls

Bhubaneswar: In a significant move, the Odisha government has announced measures to expand the flagship Subhadra Yojana and present it in a new form to ensure comprehensive welfare and well-being of women and girls.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi while presenting the state budget in the Assembly on Monday announced that the government will roll out ‘Subhadra Plus’ with a number of new initiatives for women and girls.

The expanded umbrella scheme will include new initiatives like ‘Kishori Subhadra’, ‘Subhadra Sanchay’, ‘Subhadra Surakhya’, ‘Subhadra Sakhi’, ‘Subhadra Yatri’, ‘Subhadra Sangha’ (clubs), ‘Kuha Subhadra’ (call centre), ‘Subhadra Sahyogi’, ‘Subhadra Scholars’ and ‘Sujogya Subhadra’ to enhance the impact of the scheme.

The government has proposed an allocation of Rs 17,998 crore for women and children in the annual budget for 2025-26.

Of the new initiatives proposed in the budget, Subhadra Surakhya is aimed at ensuring safety and security of women and an amount of Rs 153 crore has been proposed in the budget for this.

In addition, poor families in the state will not have to worry about getting their daughters married. The state budget has proposed a new scheme ‘Mukhya Mantri Kanya Bibaha Yojana’ along the lines of Madhya Pradesh government’s initiative to facilitate marriage of girls from poor socio-economic backgrounds.

Under the programme, mass marriages will be performed and the government will bear all expenses and also provide gifts to the brides. For this, an allocation of Rs 12 crore has been earmarked.

Similarly, the state has proposed Rs 208 crore for Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana under which, maternity benefit of Rs 12,000 will be provided to mothers on the birth of a girl child.
For nutrition of women, adolescent girls and children, though, the allocation under Mukhyamantri Sampoorna Pusti Yojana (MSPY) will be Rs 526 crore which is Rs 28 crore less than the last budget.

However, the government will launch a new Odisha Pusti Mission with an allocation of Rs 100 crore to ensure effective delivery of nutritional support to beneficiaries of MSPY.

Allocation for Mission Shakti department has also been increased to Rs 2,775 crore for implementation of various schemes and enabling women to become ‘Lakhpati Didis’.