Over 14,000 men sneaked into the sisterhood that gets a monthly payment of ₹1,500 under the state’s flagship Ladki Bahin Yojana. These 14,298 men, who illegally received the direct cash benefit for 10 months, resulted in a loss of ₹21.44 crore to the state exchequer.
Ladki Bahin Yojana: Intended for Low-Income Single Women
The Ladki Bahin Yojana was a nightmare for the Mahayuti alliance, which had helped their sweep to victory in the previous year’s assembly election. Its recipients are supposed to be single women from low-income groups between the ages of 21 and 65. The funds are supposed to enhance their health, nutrition, and overall welfare.
Unveiled last June, the scheme has been contentious because of the record blow it has given the finances of the state. It has also been plagued by ineligible recipients uncovered during the monthly exercise of scrutiny. In its most recent revision, the state women and child development department discovered that 14,298 men have signed up by presenting themselves as people they are not. Payments to their accounts were halted.
₹3,700 Crore Disbursed Monthly to Over 24 Million Beneficiaries
The state government now spends ₹3,700 crore to disburse ₹1,500 per month to 24.1 million beneficiaries of the Ladki Bahin Yojana.
The latest audit report estimates that the state has lost ₹1,640 crore in the past 12 months by disbursing hundreds of thousands of ineligible beneficiaries. In February, the women and child development department, which runs the scheme, had stated that about 500,000 beneficiaries had been excluded. These consist of approximately 162,000 women whose families owned four-wheelers, and approximately 287,000 beneficiaries aged over 65 years (they are eligible under another scheme). The latter, who had been receiving the benefit for the past 10 months, had resulted in a loss of ₹431.7 crore to the state exchequer.
Fraudulent Registrations by Multiple Family Members
Also being given the monthly payment were women who were the third woman of a family to be getting the benefit under the Ladki Bahin scheme. They had falsely registered despite the fact that two women from a family only have the right to register. In the last year, the department detected some 797,000 such instances, which cost ₹1,196 crore.
While admitting that the number of ineligible beneficiaries was shocking, officials from the women and child development department said the online registration process helped fraudulent beneficiaries to sign up. “Physical scrutiny of applications at the ground level is necessary,” said one official. “We are also going to cross-check the income eligibility of beneficiaries by enlisting the help of the income tax department as only women with a family income of up to ₹2.5 lakh a year are eligible under the Ladki Bahin scheme.”
The department, in the process of scrutiny, had asked information from several other departments. According to the scrutiny report, 2.634 million ineligible beneficiaries had availed themselves of the Ladki Bahin scheme, and their payments were withheld. Women and child development minister Aditi Tatkare said the information would be cross-checked at the ground level by district collectors in the state.
Government Promises Action Against Fraudulent Claimants
“As of now, benefits to 26.34 lakh (2.634 million) ineligible beneficiaries have been stopped and about 2.25 crore (22.5 million) beneficiaries are eligible. The nature of action against those who mislead the government to take benefits will be decided after discussions with the chief minister and two deputy chief ministers,” Tatkare said.
Commenting on reports that over 14,000 men had benefitted under the Ladki Bahin scheme, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said, “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 the money under the scheme. If they don’t cooperate, we will take strict action.”
