Maharashtra’s Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana | Defined

The story to date: Forward of the 2024 Maharashtra Meeting elections, the State authorities launched the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana. Below this scheme, eligible girls within the State obtain ₹1,500 each month by way of Direct Profit Switch (DBT). At its peak, the scheme lined 2.43 crore beneficiaries. Nevertheless, successive rounds of verification over the previous two years have led to the elimination of lakhs of beneficiaries, bringing the overall all the way down to about 1.66 crore girls.

The current elimination of lakhs of girls from the beneficiaries’ record has sparked criticism, and the Comptroller and Auditor Common (CAG) has raised issues in regards to the scheme.

Who’s eligible to obtain funds below the scheme?

Girls who’re residents of Maharashtra, aged between 21 and 65 years, with an Aadhaar-linked checking account, and belonging to a household with an annual revenue of lower than ₹2.5 lakh are eligible to obtain advantages below the scheme. Girls of any marital standing, together with those that are married, widowed, divorced or single, are eligible. Nevertheless, just one lady per household can avail of the profit.

What’s the goal of the scheme?

The Maharashtra authorities stated the scheme, launched in June 2024 forward of the Meeting elections, is aimed toward selling the financial independence of girls. It additionally seeks to enhance their well being and dietary standing, and strengthen their function in household decision-making, in response to the federal government. The scheme is applied by the State’s Girls and Baby Growth Division.

What are the crimson flags raised by the CAG in its newest report?

The CAG stated the implementation of the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana throughout 2024-25 was marked by “important deficiencies in Funds estimation, expenditure management, and monetary administration.” Whereas the scheme was allotted ₹29,693.09 crore for the fiscal 12 months, the federal government incurred an expenditure of ₹33,237.24 crore, leading to an extra expenditure of ₹3,541.16 crore. The CAG described the surplus expenditure was “unjustified” and stated the Girls and Baby Growth Division failed to offer any particular justification for the overspending.

It additional noticed that funds for the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana had been mobilised by reappropriating allocations from different schemes. For example, ₹3,490.75 crore was reappropriated from the Lek Ladki Yojana. The State’s supplementary Funds additionally allotted ₹26,200 crore for the scheme.

The CAG additionally expressed concern that the scheme undermined the ideas of budgetary self-discipline, monetary propriety and legislative management over public funds. It stated that “important extra expenditure remained unexplained” and that enormous sums had been drawn and parked within the Disbursing Officer’s Digital Private Deposit Account (VPDA). “This means that the funds weren’t required for rapid utilisation and had been drawn with out precise expenditure wants, opposite to the ideas of budgetary self-discipline and monetary propriety,” the CAG noticed.

“A take a look at examine of vouchers exceeding ₹1,000 crore regarding the scheme, aggregating ₹29,732.01 crore, confirmed that ₹15,586 crore drawn between January and March 2025 was transferred to the Drawing and Disbursing Officer’s VPDA,” the report stated.

Why have so many names been faraway from the beneficiaries’ record?

At its peak, the scheme had 2.43 crore beneficiaries. In accordance with the Maharashtra authorities, the quantity has since fallen to 1.66 crore. The federal government stated the names had been eliminated after a number of rounds of verification discovered that some beneficiaries now not met the eligibility standards. It maintained that there was no change within the eligibility norms and attributed the discount to the verification course of.

The federal government additionally cited that the necessary e-KYC requirement as a key cause for the drop within the variety of beneficiaries, saying many ladies failed to finish the method. A Shiv Sena chief has now urged the State authorities to increase the deadline for finishing the necessary e-KYC course of.

In the meantime, the Opposition has accused the federal government of utilizing the scheme to safe electoral good points. The Congress has demanded the rapid restoration of advantages for lakhs of girls who had been excluded over e-KYC-related points, and referred to as for a complete inquiry into the implementation of the scheme.

The Opposition has additionally criticised the federal government for failing to fulfil its promise of accelerating the month-to-month help from ₹1,500 to ₹2,100 forward of the State Meeting elections.