Maharashtra minister Ganesh Naik on Friday said that while the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin scheme is putting financial strain on government departments, it will not be discontinued, The Indian Express reported.
“The government has no intention of rolling back the scheme despite the fiscal strain,” The Hindu quoted Naik as having told the Legislative Council.
The scheme, launched in June 2024, provides a monthly transfer of Rs 1,500 to women aged 21 to 65 whose families earn less than Rs 2.5 lakh per year.
The Ladki Bahin scheme is said to have played an important role in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance winning 230 seats in the 288-member Assembly in November 2024.
“The government has accepted the Ladki Bahin Yojana,” The Indian Express quoted the forest minister as saying. “Even if it creates conditions that lead to injustice in other departments, the scheme will continue.”
The comment came while responding to a question asked by a Congress MLC about the lack of road connectivity to Dhangar and Adivasi settlements in the forest areas of Kolhapur district.
The Ladki Bahin scheme has sparked controversy due to the strain it has placed on the state’s finances. Monthly scrutiny exercises had also flagged numerous instances of ineligible enrolments.
The state government spends Rs 3,700 crore to disburse the benefits to 2.4 crore beneficiaries each month under the scheme.
In October, Nationalist Congress Party leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal had claimed that all government departments were facing a fund crunch because of the Ladki Bahin scheme.
A review of the scheme in July had found that more than 14,000 men in Maharashtra allegedly received a monthly payout under the scheme for 10 months.
The Women and Child Development Department said that 14,298 men had enrolled in the scheme by misrepresenting their identities, leading to a loss of Rs 21.4 crore to the state exchequer.
Payments to their accounts have since been stopped.
Also read:
- The cash handout burden and its underlying politics
- ‘Election stunt’: Anger, confusion among Maharashtra women as Ladki Bahin payments falter
- As Ladki Bahin squeezes Maharashtra welfare schemes, will discontent surface in civic body polls?
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