Maharashtra’s Ladki Bahin Yojana is credited with winning its government a landslide. Two years later, the same government removed 92 lakh of its own beneficiaries.
Timeline
- 28 June 2024: Maharashtra’s government approves the Ladki Bahin Yojana, under CM Eknath Shinde.
- 17 August 2024: The first monthly installment reaches beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
- November 2024: The Mahayuti alliance wins a landslide in Maharashtra’s assembly election, crediting the scheme.
- 5 December 2024: Devendra Fadnavis is sworn in as Chief Minister, with Shinde and Ajit Pawar as Deputy CMs.
- July 2026: A statewide verification drive removes over 92 lakh beneficiaries.
Must Know
- Ladki Bahin Yojana is Maharashtra’s state cash-transfer scheme, for eligible women.
- It was approved on 28 June 2024, under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s government.
- It pays Rs 1,500 a month, via Direct Benefit Transfer to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.
- Eligible women must be aged 21 to 65, with family income under Rs 2.5 lakh a year.
- Full name: Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana (“My Beloved Sister” scheme).
Good to Know
- The scheme covers married, widowed, divorced, abandoned, and destitute women. One unmarried woman per family also qualifies.
- It was modelled on a similar scheme in Madhya Pradesh, launched ahead of Maharashtra’s own state election.
- Registered women peaked at about 2.43 crore, before later verification removed a large share.
- Women’s voter turnout rose sharply in the 2024 election, with over 3 crore women voting, up from 2.53 crore in 2019.
- Mahayuti (BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP) won 230 of 288 seats in that election.
- See the full directory of every state’s cash-transfer scheme for women.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- On 5 December 2024, Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister, for a third term.
- Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar became Deputy Chief Ministers, under the same Mahayuti coalition.
- Unlike Odisha’s KALIA or Karnataka’s Gruha Lakshmi, no change of ruling party followed here.
- A verification drive, starting September 2025, still removed over 92 lakh beneficiaries by July 2026.
- Most removals were for failed e-KYC, about 62 lakh cases, followed by income-limit and eligibility breaches.
Current Affairs
- 2025-2026: A large verification drive shrinks the scheme, even as the same government stays in power.
- The verification exercise, begun in September 2025, cut beneficiaries from a peak of 2.43 crore to just over 1.5 crore by July 2026.
- Over 92 lakh names were removed, nearly 38 percent of the total, for reasons including failed e-KYC, income-limit breaches, and ineligible claimants.
- Maharashtra’s budget for the scheme was cut from Rs 36,000 crore in 2025-26 to Rs 26,500 crore in 2026-27, a reduction of Rs 9,500 crore.
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