NEW DELHI: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Monday admitted that the state government made a “mistake” in extending financial benefits to all applicants of the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana without sufficient scrutiny, attributing the lapse to time constraints ahead of last year’s assembly elections.“We made a mistake of giving the financial benefit to all women (applicants). We had little time to scrutinise the applications and identify the ineligible ones. At that time, elections were supposed to be announced in two to three months,” news agency PTI reported Pawar as saying.The Ladki Bahin scheme, launched in August 2024, offers Rs 1,500 per month to eligible women aged 21 to 65 years with an annual income below Rs 2.5 lakh. Though it was designed to empower poor women, scrutiny revealed thousands of ineligible recipients, including over 2,200 government employees.Pawar, who also heads the state’s finance department, clarified that the aid already deposited will not be withdrawn. “When the scheme was unveiled, the government had appealed that only eligible women apply but that didn’t happen. A scrutiny is being conducted. Only the needy women will get the monthly payout,” he said.His admission drew strong reactions from the opposition. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut demanded Pawar’s resignation, accusing him of enabling a misuse of public funds to gain electoral advantage. Raut said the finance department had presided over a “loot of government money for the sake of votes”.Earlier, Maharashtra minister Aditi Tatkare confirmed the government had disqualified 2,289 ineligible government employees after examining nearly two lakh applications. In a recent post on X, she assured the public that such scrutiny would continue regularly. “After realising this, such beneficiaries are not being given the benefit of the scheme,” she wrote.The Ladki Bahin scheme was credited with boosting the Mahayuti alliance’s performance in the November 2024 assembly elections. However, it has also led to budgetary strain. Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat conceded that the government was under pressure, saying, “It is a reality that the monthly amount of Rs 1,500 cannot be raised to Rs 2,100.” He added that the scheme would continue even if it required the state to borrow funds.Shirsat also criticised the finance department for diverting funds from his ministry without notice. In March, he alleged that Rs 7,000 crore had been slashed from the Social Justice Department’s budget, and on Monday, he called for a law to protect such departments from arbitrary cuts.According to official guidelines, beneficiaries must meet income and residency criteria and provide Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Newly married women can present a marriage certificate if their name does not appear on a ration card. While the scheme aims to support women’s economic independence, the government now faces growing scrutiny over its execution.
