A major financial scandal has rocked Maharashtra’s welfare apparatus as over 14,000 men were found to have illegally received benefits under the Ladki Bahin Yojana—a scheme designed solely for financially weak women aged 21–65. Launched before the 2024 Assembly polls by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, the scheme provides ₹1,500 monthly aid to eligible women from families earning below ₹2.5 lakh annually.
An audit by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department revealed that ₹21.44 crore was wrongly disbursed to 14,298 men who manipulated the online application system to register as female beneficiaries. The misuse went undetected for 10 months after the scheme’s launch.
Deputy CM Ajit Pawar condemned the fraud and vowed to recover the misappropriated funds, warning of strict action for non-compliance. However, the men’s involvement is only a fraction of the irregularities. The scheme suffered a staggering ₹1,640 crore loss in its first year due to widespread ineligible enrollments.
Among the most serious violations:
- Over 7.97 lakh women registered as the third female from the same household (₹1,196 crore loss).
- 2.87 lakh women above the 65-year age cap received payments (₹431.7 crore loss).
- 1.62 lakh women from four-wheeler-owning families were also on the beneficiary list.
NCP MP Supriya Sule has demanded a deeper probe by SIT or the ED, questioning the role of private contractors in data handling.
In response, WCD Minister Aditi Tatkare confirmed that 26.34 lakh ineligible beneficiaries were recently flagged and their benefits paused from June 2025. Meanwhile, 2.25 crore verified recipients received June payouts as part of corrective efforts.