Himachal cabinet approves ₹1,500 a month for 3.5 lakh women and 300 free units of power

The Himachal Pradesh cabinet on Friday, November 13, 2026, approved the Mukhya Mantri Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar Yojana, under which eligible women aged 18 to 59 will receive ₹1,500 a month and eligible families 300 units of free electricity. The government has identified about 3.5 lakh women as beneficiaries. The meeting in Shimla was chaired by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

The scheme revives a Congress promise that has been rewritten twice. The cabinet’s decisions, as reported, do not say when the first payment will go out or what the full eligibility conditions are beyond the age band and the word “eligible”.

What the scheme gives

Each woman in the 18 to 59 group who qualifies gets ₹1,500 every month, and her family gets 300 units of power free. At the full rate, 3.5 lakh women would draw about ₹630 crore a year (our calculation: 3.5 lakh women, ₹1,500, 12 months). No report of the meeting puts a cost on the scheme or on the free power.

Women above 59 are covered separately. Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan said the state had already raised their monthly aid from ₹1,050 to ₹1,500.

How the promise got here

The ₹1,500 a month was one of the 10 guarantees the Congress made before the last assembly election. On March 4, 2024, Sukhu announced it as the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana for women aged 18 to 60, saying it would cost ₹800 crore a year and reach more than five lakh women. In April 2024 the Congress said the first instalment had been paid in Lahaul and Spiti, while the party accused the BJP of getting payments elsewhere stopped through a complaint to the Election Commission during the Lok Sabha campaign.

By August 2026 the government had announced the scheme again under the name Apna Parivar Sukhi Parivar, with a launch date of October 2. On August 31 the BJP’s state spokesperson Vinay Sharma said the party wanted to know what had happened to the old scheme, how many women had received it, and how much extra money had been set aside for the new one. He asked whether it was a new initiative or the old promise with new branding.

On November 6, during a visit to Dehgran village in Chamba’s Churah region, Sukhu said the aid, 300 units of free power and free medical treatment for women from poor families would begin next month. Friday’s cabinet approval puts the scheme on the government’s formal record.

The ₹1,500 promise

1. March 4, 2024Sukhu announces ₹1,500 a month for women aged 18 to 60
2. April 2024First instalment paid in Lahaul and Spiti; Congress accuses BJP of blocking the rest
3. August 31, 2026BJP asks what happened to the old scheme as the new one is announced
4. November 6, 2026Sukhu says the aid will start next month
5. November 13, 2026Cabinet approves the scheme for 3.5 lakh women

The rest of the cabinet’s agenda

The meeting took a long list of other decisions, several of them on money and power.

• Hydropower and solar. The Swaran Jayanti Energy Policy 2021 was amended so that central public sector projects that have run for 40 years give the state 50% free power as royalty for the next 10 years, and pass to the state free of cost after 50 years. The cabinet cancelled the allotments of 222 solar projects that were never implemented and 13 hydro projects above 25 MW for non-compliance, and ordered fresh bidding for 20 projects.
• Raw water. A uniform policy for selling surplus raw water to other states, agencies and industries starts at ₹100 per 1,000 cubic feet, to be revised with the Wholesale Price Index.
• Farmers. The minimum support price of naturally grown ginger goes up from ₹30 to ₹40 a kg, and the Market Intervention Scheme price of C-grade apples from ₹12 to ₹13 a kg.
• Buses. The subsidy on diesel buses under the Rajiv Gandhi Swarozgar Start-up Scheme 2023 rises from 30% to 40%. Electric buses get 50% and diesel buses with more than 10 seats 40% on specified routes, including Hamirpur to the Dr Radhakrishnan Medical College and from the new IGMC Shimla OPD to the Atal Institute at Chamiyana.
• Health. The cabinet approved 1,000 Rogi Mitras and 561 Junior Office Assistant (IT) posts for hospital information systems in government medical and dental colleges. Outsourced perfusionists’ honorarium goes from ₹25,000 to ₹45,000 a month, and geriatric medicine departments will open at IGMC Shimla, Tanda and Nerchowk.
• Police and registration. A one-time relaxation lets the constable written examination be held offline, with the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission told to arrange online capacity within six months. The Baroh police post in Kangra becomes a police station. A Registration Sewa Kendra project, modelled on the Passport Seva Kendras, starts in Shimla, Solan, Kangra and Sirmaur.
• Other. A drug-prevention and sports drive, Khelo Himachal Chitta Mukt Abhiyan 2026, will run in all 12 districts. A 2.26-hectare plot in Ghumarwin, Bilaspur, will be leased for a Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pangi’s Phool Yatra gets state-level fair status and an SDM office will open at Dadasiba in Kangra.

What it means for households

For a family with an eligible woman in the 18 to 59 group, the package is ₹18,000 a year in cash plus up to 300 units of power a month. The power decisions run the other way, towards the state: 50% free power from long-running central projects and the cancellation of stalled allotments both bear on what Himachal earns from its rivers. Earlier this month the Supreme Court also ordered Punjab and Haryana to settle the state’s Bhakra Beas dues in electricity rather than cash, as we reported in our story on that ruling.

What happens next

Three things are still to be answered. The government has to notify the scheme with its eligibility rules and an application route, say when payments begin, and put a figure on what the free power will cost. The BJP’s questions from August, on how many women received the earlier aid and what extra budget has been set aside, remain on the record.