Maharashtra won’t recover ₹5,000 crore paid to ineligible Ladki Bahin beneficiaries; 30 lakh women identified during verification drive

Mumbai: In a major relief for beneficiaries of the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, the Maharashtra government has decided not to recover money already disbursed to women who were later found ineligible under the flagship welfare scheme. The decision comes after an extensive verification exercise carried out by the Women and Child Development Department, which identified nearly 30 lakh beneficiaries who did not meet the scheme's eligibility criteria.

Despite the findings, the government has clarified that no recovery proceedings will be initiated against women who have already received financial assistance under the scheme. The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana was launched in 2024 to provide financial support of ₹1,500 per month to economically weaker women aged between 21 and 65 years.

The scheme quickly became one of the largest welfare programmes in Maharashtra, with beneficiary numbers crossing 2.4 crore women.

However, concerns over duplicate applications, wrongful enrolments and eligibility violations prompted the government to undertake a comprehensive verification and data-matching exercise. As part of the verification process, beneficiary records were cross-checked with multiple government databases, including income tax records, government employee databases, pension records and welfare scheme databases.

Authorities also carried out e-KYC verification and Aadhaar-based authentication to identify duplicate or fraudulent beneficiaries. Officials found that several beneficiaries were income tax payers, while others were government employees or members of families that exceeded the prescribed income limit.

Some women were found to be receiving benefits under multiple schemes despite rules prohibiting overlapping assistance. In a few cases, applications were allegedly submitted using incorrect information or duplicate identities. The scrutiny exercise also identified beneficiaries who failed to complete mandatory e-KYC verification, leading to their removal from the list. Government sources said the verification drive was aimed at ensuring that public funds are directed only towards genuinely eligible women.

As a result of the exercise, nearly 80 lakh beneficiaries were removed from the scheme, bringing the total number of active beneficiaries down from around 2.4 crore to nearly 1.7 crore. The amount already paid to the now-ineligible beneficiaries is estimated to be around ₹5,000 crore. Despite the significant financial implications, the state government has decided against recovering the funds, citing the need to avoid hardship for beneficiaries who may have received the money without knowingly violating eligibility norms.

The opposition has criticised the government over the large number of beneficiaries removed from the scheme, alleging administrative lapses and questioning the accuracy of the original enrolment process. Opposition leaders have also claimed that the verification exercise reflects mounting pressure on the state's finances.

The government, however, has defended the clean-up drive, stating that the objective is to improve transparency, eliminate leakages and strengthen the credibility of the scheme. Officials maintain that eligible women will continue to receive assistance and that future payments will be made only after stringent verification checks. The verification process is expected to continue periodically to ensure that the scheme benefits only those who qualify under the prescribed guidelines