Maharashtra: Massive Purge in 'Ladki Bahin Yojana': Why 54 Lakh Were Women Excluded
Mumbai: In a major development regarding the 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana'—a scheme designed to provide assistance to economically vulnerable women in Maharashtra—54 lakh women have been declared ineligible following a rigorous verification drive.
The state government has updated the list of beneficiaries after the completion of the mandatory e-KYC (Electronic Know Your Customer) process. Out of the total registered applicants, approximately 54 lakh women have been deemed ineligible and have been removed from the scheme.
According to the final figures, the total number of eligible female beneficiaries now stands at 1.89 crore. Previously, more than 2.43 crore women had registered for this scheme.
Intensive verification process initiated
The government initiated an intensive verification process to ensure that only targeted low-income families receive the monthly assistance of Rs 1,500. Despite the deadline being extended three times, lakhs of women failed to complete their verification by the final cut-off date of April 30.
This scheme is specifically intended for families with an annual income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh. Investigations revealed that the income of many beneficiaries exceeded this limit. Cases also surfaced where women whose family members were in government service—or who were government employees themselves—were also availing the benefits of the scheme.
Many women were declared ineligible due to technical errors in their applications; for instance, mistakenly identifying themselves as government employees during the initial registration process.
In the updated list, eligible women will continue to receive the monthly payment of Rs 1,500 deposited directly into their bank accounts. For those women declared ineligible, financial assistance will be discontinued with immediate effect. Furthermore, in certain serious cases of fraud, the government has also initiated the recovery of funds previously disbursed to these ineligible individuals.