Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday announced that the state government will not close the ambitious Ladki Bahin Yojana where a monthly financial aid of Rs 1,500 has been paid to eligible women since July last year.
He admitted that the fiscal space has been reduced due to the burden of Rs 46,000 crore in the state budget for the implementation of the Ladki Bahin Yojana. However, he reiterated that the state government will not close the scheme but it will be continued in future.
“I also told the officials that do the reverse math, how much investment do we need to make for our progress? How much can we do? If there is a difference of Rs 25,000 crore, also explore of option of whether the government can mobilise that much funding from various schemes. We are thinking about this. We are seeing that funds will be raised through other schemes,” he said.
He further added that “we do not want to fall into the trap of reducing capital expenditure because the revenue deficit is increasing.”
Fadnavis also made it clear that the government will not take back the money given to the women who have now been declared ineligible under the Ladki Bahin Yojana.
Nearly five lakh women have been excluded from the scheme as they have become ineligible under the scheme’s criteria.
“We will not close any scheme. We will review the details of these schemes. Many ineligible sisters have taken benefit from the Ladki Bahin Yojana. This number can be around 10 lakh to 15 lakh. Many of them have started to stop taking benefits under the scheme. We will no longer give the benefit of the scheme to those ineligible sisters. Because we are accountable to the CAG for this. To prevent this from happening again, ineligible women will no longer get the benefit of the Ladki Bahin Yojana. However, we will not ask for the funds they have received so far. That fund will remain with them. We are insistent that the money should go only to eligible women beneficiaries,” he said.
The Chief Minister’s statement comes days after the Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare on February 7 announced that the state government has excluded a record five lakh women from the flagship Ladki Bahin Yojana.
“Five lakh ineligible women have been excluded from the Ladki Bahin Yojana as per the government decisions issued on June 28, 2024 and July 3, 2024. The beneficiaries who were declared ineligible include women beneficiaries of Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana – 2,30,000, women above 65 years of age – 1,10,000 and women who are beneficiaries of Namoshakti Yojana and have four-wheelers in the name of family members but voluntarily withdraw their names from the scheme – 1,60,000,” she said.
The government’s move to drop five lakh women beneficiaries from the Ladki Bahin Yojana comes in the wake of a verification exercise launched after it received complaints about bogus beneficiaries of the Ladki Bahin Yojana.
The government had sought information from the Income Tax Department and Transport Department for the verification of beneficiaries.
Tatkare recently said that She clarified that the government would only address complaints regarding the bogus beneficiaries.
She said that the trigger for launching the verification process was complaints about potential bogus beneficiaries of the scheme.
She added that about 4,500 women have applied to opt out of the scheme following these concerns.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also clarified that the government will not close other schemes including the MukhyaMantri Teerth Dardshan Yojana (Pilgrimage visit scheme) and Shiv Bhojan Yojana (providing meals at Rs 10 per plate).
