Bhubaneswar: More than one crore women in Odisha received a fresh financial boost on Raksha Bandhan as the state government released the fifth instalment of the Subhadra Yojana on Friday.
Under the latest payment, ₹5,000 each has been transferred to the bank accounts of 1,03,26,162 eligible women.
The total amount transferred under this instalment is more than ₹5,160 crore.
The payment was formally released at a programme in Lathipada in Nayagarh district, where Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi attended the event along with Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida and other members of the state Cabinet.
For many women receiving the money, the payment is part of a financial support scheme that has become a regular feature of their household planning.
The latest instalment also includes women who were left out of earlier payments but were later found eligible for the scheme.
According to the government, 2,21,054 women are receiving Subhadra assistance for the first time through this disbursement.
Some eligible beneficiaries who missed earlier payments have also received multiple instalments together after their eligibility was confirmed.
The Subhadra Yojana was launched by the Odisha government as a women-focused welfare programme. Under the scheme, eligible women receive financial assistance aimed at supporting their economic independence and household needs.
The scheme provides ₹50,000 over five years, with the assistance normally distributed through annual payments.
The latest release is therefore more than just another government transfer. For the state government, it is also an important measure of how widely the scheme is reaching women across Odisha.
The numbers are significant.
More than 1.03 crore women have received the fifth instalment, while more than ₹5,160 crore has moved directly into beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
The government has presented the scheme as an effort to strengthen women’s financial independence and encourage them to make greater use of financial resources for their families and livelihoods.
For beneficiaries, however, the impact is ultimately measured at the household level in the expenses they can meet, the small needs they can plan for and the financial decisions they can make with greater independence.
The latest disbursement also comes on Raksha Bandhan, giving the government’s women-focused scheme a prominent place in the festival-day programme.
With the fifth instalment now released, attention will turn to the next stage of the scheme and how beneficiaries use the support available to them.
For now, the numbers tell the immediate story: ₹5,000 each has reached more than 1.03 crore women across Odisha, with the latest transfer involving more than ₹5,160 crore.
