Chandigarh, Jan. 2 -- Women beneficiaries of Lado Lakshmi Yojana in Haryana will now get the monthly financial benefit of Rs.2,100 in a staggered manner. The move is clearly designed to defer the heavy financial liability to the tune of Rs.163.8 crore per month arising due to payments made to about 7.8 lakh beneficiaries currently. Married and unmarried women who are 23 and above as on September 25, 2025 and whose family's annual income is less than Rs.1 lakh were madeeligible in the first phase of the implementation of the scheme. The Council of Ministers on Thursday decided that the remuneration of Rs.2,100 (from second month onwards) will now be released in two tranches with Rs.1,100 being credited directly to the beneficiary's savings bank account and Rs.1,000 being deposited in a government-operated recurring deposit or fixed deposit account. An official spokesperson said the accumulated amount with interest will be paid to the beneficiary on maturity. The term of the recurring deposit or fixed deposit will not exceed five years. The state government which registered a revenue deficit of about Rs.17,847 crore in 2024-25 revised estimates had pegged an increased revenue deficit of Rs.20,599 crore for the 2025-26 budget estimates. However, despite the financial stress, the Council of Ministers on Thursday approved integration of a new layer of beneficiaries expected to be about a lakh initially. As per a new eligibility criteria designed to include women having annual income of up to Rs.1.80 lakh (as per family information database repository), the Council of Ministers decided that mothers whose children studying in government schools have demonstrated academic excellence by securing more than 80% marks in Class 10 or 12 board examinations, or have achieved grade-level competency under the NIPUN Bharat Mission in Classes 1 to 4 will be eligible for Rs.2,100 stipend. "Similarly, mothers who have successfully rehabilitated their children from severe acute malnutrition or moderate acute malnutrition (as verified by the Women and Child Development department) will also be eligible for the stipend. The age and domicile criteria will remain unchanged," the spokesperson said. Officials said that aligning objectives of Viksit Bharat to socio economic development and family size, mothers who have more than three children will not be eligible under the Rs.1.80 lakh income category. The state government has also decided that the validation of beneficiaries will be made through local self-governance institutions. After initial verification by citizens resource information department (CRID), the list of beneficiaries will be shared with gram sabhas in rural areas and area sabhas or ward committees in urban areas for community-level validation. In cases where any beneficiary is found ineligible or non-genuine during validation, the financial assistance will be discontinued, the spokesperson said. Women applying for the financial assistance have to furnish exhaustive personal and family information including details of income, bank accounts, electricity connection, ownership of vehicles and residence certificate among others. The council of ministers approved a proposal to provide government employment on compassionate grounds to Santosh Kumari, wife of deceased assistant sub inspector (ASI) Sandeep Kumar Lather as a special and as one-time measure. The deceased ASI who was a part of the team investigating an extortion case registered against a cop deployed with deceased Haryana IPS officer, Y Puran Kumar had committed suicide in October 2025. In his suicide note and a video, Lathar said that he was sacrificing his life to bring public awakening on two vital issues affecting the society- corruption and casteism. An official spokesperson said Santosh Kumari will be appointed as PGT Mathematics (Group-B) in the Campus School, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. The Cabinet approved lease of about four acre land of gram panchayat, Rattewali, in Barwala block of Panchkula to Kamdhenu Gau Sewa Samiti, Saketri, Panchkula for establishment of Gaushala of 570 animals for a period of 20 years. An amendment in Section 7A of Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 was approved with an objective of preventing misuse of exchange deeds for unauthorised land transactions in notified urban areas by inserting 'exchange deeds' under this section. An official spokesperson said the amendment will come into force following promulgationof Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas (Haryana Amendment) Ordinance, 2025. The amendment seeks to ensure that exchange deeds, which are increasingly being used as indirect sale instruments, are brought under the regulatory framework of the Act....