– Young girls came with their mother to get registered for ‘Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana’ at Women and child welfare office in East Delhi’s Geeta colony. From today, the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department is commencing the first phase of enrolment under the Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana.– A mother waits with her baby to get registered for ‘Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana’ at Women and child welfare office in East Delhi’s Geeta colony. From today, the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department is commencing the first phase of enrolment under the Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana.– A cake being cut on the first day of registration for ‘Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana’ at Women and child welfare office in East Delhi’s Geeta colony. From today, the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department is commencing the first phase of enrolment under the Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana.– Harshyee, a four month old baby on her mother reshu’s lap after her name was registered for ‘Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana’ at Women and child welfare office in East Delhi’s Geeta colony. From today, the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department is commencing the first phase of enrolment under the Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana.– Harshyee, a four month old baby on her mother reshu’s lap while her name was registered for ‘Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana’ at Women and child welfare office in East Delhi’s Geeta colony. From today, the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department is commencing the first phase of enrolment under the Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana.– A cake being cut on the first day of registration for ‘Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana’ at Women and child welfare office in East Delhi’s Geeta colony. From today, the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department is commencing the first phase of enrolment under the Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana.New Delhi: By mid-morning, the corridor at the district office of the department of women and child development in east Delhi was bustling. Anxious parents carrying sleeping infants queued up, a child was heard wailing near a staircase, and files kept passing from one hand to another. The queue moved slowly, stopping, starting, then stopping again. It looked like admission day. But no one was there for school.Wednesday was the first day of registration under the Rs 128-crore Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana, the revamped version of Delhi Ladli Scheme, a week after CM Rekha Gupta announced it while presenting the 2026-27 budget.Inside the district office, names were being called out. Clerks worked busily at their computers as slips were printed, passed across tables, folded and tucked away. By 8 pm, 317 registrations were completed.Akash and his wife, Reshu, were among the parents who lined up with infants, hoping to secure their future. Their daughter, Harshvi, who was one of the first to be enrolled, was sleeping in Reshu’s arms.Akash repairs bikes for a living and took the day off. “Hospital mein hi pata chala tha,” he said, recalling how he first heard about the scheme just after Harshvi was born. He kept on enquiring about it and checking for updates. Then, he applied online on March 24.Now, as he held the slip in his hand, he glanced at it once, then again. “Aage padh legi,” he said softly as the line moved a step forward.Around him, people waited in silence or spoke in low voices. A man shifted his sleeping infant from one shoulder to the other. A woman checked her papers again. Someone behind them said, “I just want my daughter to have a good life. I’ll give her this money when she turns 21.”Shivani, another parent in the queue, was already doing the maths in her head. Her two sons, 5 and 3, were yet to start school. Money is tight, and every new expense puts more pressure on the family.Her daughter was born last Aug. “I decided right away that we need to enrol for Ladli (the erstwhile scheme).” But the process dragged on. Recently, she heard it is now Lakhpati Bitiya Yojana. “Bas yahi hai,” she murmured. “Thoda sa sahara mil jaaye… meri bachchi padh le.”The new scheme follows years of alleged delays surrounding the old one, with reports claiming that over 1.86 lakh accounts, which reached their maturity, were lying unclaimed at one point.Under the new structure, support for girls born in Delhi begins at birth and continues through their key stages of education. Families receive Rs 11,000 at birth, followed by smaller instalments during key milestones in school, and a larger amount at the time of higher education. The money accumulates over time, eventually crossing Rs 1 lakh, and can be accessed once a girl turns 18 after completing Class XII, or at 21 on graduating or earning a diploma.Meanwhile, at the east Delhi centre, several hours had passed, but the queue still looked mazy. If anything, it seemed to have grown longer. Each parent waited patiently, documents in hand, for his or her turn at the counter.Dr Rashmi Singh, secretary of the department of women and child development, said the process has been fully digitised “to make it simpler and more transparent for the beneficiaries”.She added, “What’s encouraging is the response on the ground. Awareness-building measures have begun, and our Samarth Anganwadi centres, equipped with digital infrastructure, have been asked to help in enrolling every eligible child. I visited one of the centres today and saw the effort firsthand. Going forward, we are planning an Aadhaar facilitation desk so that families can complete essential documentation in one place. The idea is to make the process smooth and accessible at the district and sub-district levels.”
