Corruption Allegations Rock Maharashtra's Daughter Scheme for Girls: A Failed Promise of Welfare?
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The Ladki Bahin Yojana, a scheme launched in August 2024 to provide financial aid to low-income women in Maharashtra, has been embroiled in a significant scandal. Financial irregularities, primarily due to fraudulent claims, have led to a misuse of approximately Rs 21.44 crore, with over 14,000 men illegally registering and receiving benefits intended exclusively for women.
This exploitation was facilitated by manipulations of the online registration system and a lack of effective initial verification. Consequently, over 26.34 lakh ineligible beneficiaries were found, causing a financial loss of over Rs 1,640 crore.
The implications of these irregularities have been severe. The Maharashtra government suspended 26.34 lakh ineligible beneficiaries after verification uncovered widespread fraud, including men posing as women and multiple claims from the same family or recipients enrolled in other government schemes.
Politically, the scandal has triggered demands for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry by the NCP’s Supriya Sule, who called for strict investigation and accountability given the scheme's significant misuse. State officials have pledged to recover the funds from fraudulent claimants and take strict action if they do not cooperate.
Going forward, it's not just about recovering lost funds—it's about restoring trust in public welfare systems. The Ladki Bahin Yojana incident reflects the need for fixing the broken system and ensuring genuine beneficiaries are not punished for administrative failures.
To prevent similar lapses in the future, the government is tightening scrutiny measures and auditing the back-end systems. Robust beneficiary validation using biometric and linked public databases is necessary, as is the implementation of automatic cross-verification with asset ownership databases.
Lack of ground-level verification by local bodies before disbursal and poor validation of Aadhaar-linked data are other issues flagged in this scheme's mismanagement. Citizen grievance redressal forums and audit automation tools are necessary to allow rightful claimants to appeal in such incidents and track irregularities in real-time, respectively.
Transparent reporting mechanisms for red-flagged cases are also crucial to prevent such incidents in the future. Recovery proceedings have begun against those responsible for the fraud, and audits have revealed that over 1.5 crore women applied for the scheme, with lakhs beginning to receive payments by mid-2025. As of June 2025, payments to the 26.34 lakh flagged beneficiaries have been suspended.
NCP MP Supriya Sule has alleged that the total scam could be worth Rs 4,800 crore and has demanded an SIT or CBI probe into the matter. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar has confirmed the fraud in the Ladki Bahin Yojana, and male recipients of the scheme are required to return the money or face legal consequences.
In summary, the causes of the Ladki Bahin Yojana's financial irregularities centre on fraud and system weaknesses allowing ineligible beneficiaries, mainly men, to access funds. The implications include large-scale financial losses, political fallout, beneficiary suspensions, and calls for thorough investigation and recovery of misspent funds. The goal of the Ladki Bahin Yojana was to provide a monthly Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of Rs 1,500 to help women with everyday expenses. However, the scheme has become one of the state's biggest financial scandals, with fraud, mismanagement, and political outrage at its core.
- The scandal in the Ladki Bahin Yojana has sparked a need for improvements in the banking-and-insurance sector, particularly in the prevention of personal-finance fraud.
- The mismanagement of the Ladki Bahin Yojana has raised concerns within the industry and politics, as questions about the accountability and efficiency of business practices arise.
- General-news outlets are reporting on the crime-and-justice implications of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, as investigations into the fraud continue.
- The authorities are taking steps to strengthen the overall financial system, addressing the weaknesses that allowed such a significant scandal in the industry of personal-finance and banking-and-insurance.
