Maharashtra looks at tweaks to Ladki Bahin amid fiscal challenges

MUMBAI: A day after the Mahayuti’s landslide win in the Maharashtra assembly election, propelled by the Ladki Bahin Yojana, bureaucrats are looking to renegotiate the scheme’s fine print.
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The scheme which will cost the exchequer ₹33,300 crore from July, 2024, to March 2025, is widely believed to have drawn an additional number of women voters, displayed in the narrow margin of male-female vote ratio — from 3.51% in 2019 to 1.62% in 2024. Launched in July this year, it gave economically backward women between ages 18 and 65 ₹1500 per month, and seeing its popularity since its launch, the Mahayuti in its manifesto promised to up it to ₹2100.
However, now that the heat and dust of the election has settled and the serious business of governance starts anew, bureaucrats realise that the ₹2100 promise maybe fiscally untenable. A senior bureaucrat in Mantralaya confirmed to HT that the first step is to prune the list of beneficiaries as many undeserving people have made it to the list, and if it runs in its present form, “it will be difficult to maintain the balance in the state’s finances”.
Finance minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar hinted as much on Saturday, seated next to chief minister Eknath Shinde after the results were declared, when he called for “a need for financial discipline”.
Also Read: Ladki Bahin scheme a game changer for Mahayuti in Pune
Shiv Sena spokesperson Krishna Hegde said, “The increased vote share is the result of women coming forward in big numbers. They were happy with CM Shinde for giving them ₹1500 per month. Congress had promised ₹3000 per month if MVA returned to power; but people were more impressed by the CM’s move as he actually delivered.”
On Sunday, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar also underscored that the Ladki Bahin scheme “drove women to vote in large numbers”.
HT has learnt that chief secretary Sujata Saunik is expected to give a presentation on points of renegotiations of the scheme to the new chief minister soon after he takes charge.
The state’s debt burden has been estimated at ₹7.82 lakh crore for fiscal 2024-25. Other major sops introduced by the government are: electricity bill waiver to farmers and three free gas cylinders annually to six million households.
When the Ladki Bahin scheme was introduced, the finance department had estimated 2.50 crore beneficiaries, which now stands at 2.43. “Nearly one crore women on the list are ineligible as their Aadhaar seeding is incomplete, and they do not hold red or orange ration cards,” said an official from the finance department. Bureaucrats in the department had earlier red-flagged that should the scheme continue, it would be a challenge for the state to pay salaries in January.
Meanwhile, the ruling combine is reluctant to prune the list of beneficiaries with an eye on the civic body elections next year. Any re-negotiation, will be done only after that, a Sena MLA told HT.