Over 14,000 men received payout under Maharashtra's women-only Ladki Bahin scheme
The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Scheme, which provides ₹1,500 monthly to eligible women aged 21-65 from low-income families, has lost ₹1,640 crore to ineligible beneficiaries over the past 12 months, according to the latest scrutiny report by the state women and child development department.
Of this staggering amount, ₹21.44 crore went to 14,298 men who misrepresented their identities to enrol in the scheme designed exclusively for women's health, nutrition and general well-being. These fraudulent male beneficiaries received payments for 10 months before being detected and had their accounts frozen.
The scheme, announced on June 28, 2024, ahead of the November assembly elections, proved politically transformative for the Mahayuti government. Before the polls, the state had already disbursed ₹7,500 to 23.4 million women, helping the coalition sweep to power.
However, the programme's rapid implementation has come at enormous cost. The state currently spends ₹3,700 crore monthly to support 24.1 million beneficiaries, while struggling with widespread eligibility violations that have exposed serious governance gaps.
The largest fraud involves 797,000 women who enrolled as third family members despite the scheme limiting eligibility to two women per household. This violation alone cost the exchequer ₹1,196 crore over the past year.
Additionally, 287,000 beneficiaries were over 65 years—who should have been enrolled in different schemes—received payments for 10 months, causing a ₹431.70 crore loss. Another 162,000 women from families owning four-wheelers were incorrectly enrolled despite income restrictions.
Concerns about the scheme's integrity emerged soon after implementation. In December 2024, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a comprehensive review of beneficiary lists.
This was followed in January by women and child development minister Aditi Tatkare announcing that the government would begin weeding out ineligible beneficiaries.
The clean-up gained momentum in February when the department dropped 500,000 ineligible beneficiaries. The latest scrutiny report covering the past 10 months has now revealed the full extent of fraudulent enrolments across multiple categories.
Department officials acknowledge the scale of fraud is 'shocking' and attribute much of it to the online registration process that enabled fraudulent enrolment without adequate verification.
'Physical scrutiny of applications at the ground level is necessary,' said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The department now plans to engage the income tax department to cross-verify eligibility, as only families earning up to ₹2.5 lakh annually qualify for benefits.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has promised strict action against male fraudsters. 'The Ladki Bahin scheme is for needy women from lower income groups, not for men. The state government will recover the money from men who received benefits. If they don't cooperate, we will take strict action,' he said.
Women and child development minister Aditi Tatkare said, 'As of now payment benefits to 2.6 million ineligible beneficiaries have been stopped... The nature of action against those who misled the government to take benefits will be decided after discussion with chief minister and the deputy chief ministers.'
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