Maharashtra’s Ladki Bahin Yojana: Waiting for ₹1,500

Radhika Kamble, 49, seethes with choler each clip idiosyncratic mentions the Ladki Bahin Yojana, Maharashtra’s payment inaugural targeted astatine women. She feels betrayed, due to the fact that 2 years aft the scheme’s announcement, she has not yet been capable to go a beneficiary. For a widow taking attraction of the household, the process was excessively overwhelming and determination was nary help, she says.

But that was not what near her feeling vulnerable. Within months of her hubby dying, she was asked to instrumentality a photograph bereft of the mangalsutra, a awesome of marriage.

“They told maine that the officials should beryllium capable to easy place women who truly request the money. Married women don’t request it arsenic much. We request it the most. The authorities volition recognize aft looking astatine our photos, we were told,” she says. She chokes connected her emotions. Sitting successful a small, unventilated country successful Sangamnagar, Mumbai, she goes done the documents and her photograph again and again. Frustrated, she says, “Maybe wealth is not written into my fate.”

Glitches and headaches

The Maharashtra authorities launched the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana connected June 28, 2024, nether the enactment of past Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, “to beforehand women’s economical independence, amended their wellness and nutrition, and fortify their decisive relation successful the family,” arsenic per the argumentation document.

The authorities said the strategy would supply ₹1,500 via a Direct Benefit Transfer to women successful Maharashtra betwixt ages 21 and 65 years, from low-income families. The family’s yearly income was to beryllium beneath ₹2.5 lakh.

Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana — translated arsenic the Chief Minister’s ‘My Favourite Sister’ strategy — was modelled connected a akin strategy successful Madhya Pradesh, and was expected to outgo the authorities ₹46,000 crore annually.

The authorities introduced presumption and conditions for the scheme. Women who had a household subordinate with authorities employment, oregon belonging to families that paid taxes, oregon belonged to families that owned a car did not qualify. There was a headdress of 2 women per household who could get the currency benefit. Those who were getting akin amounts of wealth from different authorities schemes were besides not eligible.

In July, the archetypal period aft the strategy was launched, the authorities received 1.5 crore applications from crossed Maharashtra, says Amol Shinde, who was the caput of the CM Welfare Cell erstwhile the strategy was launched successful the erstwhile Eknath Shinde government. The archetypal payments to the 1.5 crore women started successful August 2024, 2 days up of Raksha Bandhan, and a fewer months up of the Assembly elections. Women thronged banks to get their Know-Your-Customer (KYC) established, truthful they could avail themselves of the money. In the 2nd month, September, astir 2.6 crore women were registered. The scrutiny of the applications than began taking spot and lone 2.4 crore received the benefit, says Shinde. The authorities subsequently introduced different information requiring women to implicit e-KYC verification, aft which the fig of beneficiaries began to decline. In December 2025, the fig of beneficiaries was 1.57 crore.

Many women accidental the payments came for respective months, and past simply stopped, contempt each documentation being complete. Some beneficiaries are inactive struggling to nexus their Aadhaar numbers to their slope accounts done an online strategy that often requires outer assistance to implicit the indispensable forms.

The Opposition successful Maharashtra has trained its guns connected the authorities for slashing the fig of beneficiaries, and for the fiscal strain the strategy has enactment connected the State exchequer. It has accused the authorities of diverting funds from different payment schemes to proceed giving benefits nether Majhi Ladki Bahin.

In June 2025, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MP Supriya Sule told reporters that the strategy was a ₹4,800 crore fraud, with 14,000 men benefiting from it. She called for a achromatic insubstantial and a Special Investigation Report (SIT) connected the scheme, saying galore deserving women had been near out.

In 2025, flawed e-KYC questions wrongly flagged 24 lakh beneficiaries arsenic authorities employees, halting their instalments, according to the Women and Child Development Department. Technical issues and glitches with the portal person plagued the effectual rollout of the strategy truthful far, with women complaining of OTP failures, Aadhaar-bank linkage errors, and information mismatches.

In July 2025, a verification thrust led to the suspension of 26.34 lakh accounts owed to irregularities, including aggregate claims wrong the aforesaid family, men receiving funds, and beneficiaries availing themselves of dual strategy benefits. Re-verification was subsequently conducted by territory collectors. In January 2026, the e-KYC deadline was extended arsenic a ‘last chance’ to rectify errors/OTP issues, until March 31, 2026.

Women talk out

In Mumbai’s Sangamnagar, Radhika, a parent of two, some successful their 20s, mislaid her husband. A clerk, helium fell and broke his hip. “We did not person the wealth to get him operated on,” she says. He yet died.

The play aft his decease is simply a fog for her. When the strategy was announced, a section person brought tempos with section enactment workers, who went door-to-door distributing forms for the scheme. Many women said they queued up astatine these tempos to taxable the forms on with their documents.

Radhika was 1 of them. When she did not get immoderate instalment arsenic different women started getting theirs successful their account, she went to her slope to inquire. They asked her to cheque online. The relation of the cybercafe astir her location asked her to sojourn her bank, saying immoderate KYC documentation was pending. She went repeatedly betwixt the slope and the cybercafe. Each clip she had to question to the nationalised bank, she would person to skip work, the unusual jobs she had picked up successful the vicinity.

“After respective visits, my lad asked maine not to consciousness bitter and to springiness up connected it. I inactive consciousness determination has to beryllium immoderate resolution. But determination is nary helpline, cipher to usher me,” she says. Now, with a caller model for e-KYC opening up, she has filled it online and hopes to beryllium enrolled arsenic a beneficiary.

It is akin for Shakuntala Devi, 55, whose slope relationship was not linked to her Aadhaar number. Devi stays with her husband, 2 daughters, and a grand-daughter. She mislaid her lad past year. Her hubby is simply a taxi driver.

“Her relationship was unopen down automatically,” says her 26-year-old girl Nandini Gautam. “We don’t cognize if it was due to the fact that it was inactive. We opened different relationship and linked it with her Aadhaar, but the grounds showed that the seeding was inactive. The slope told america to capable up a DBT form. We did it. And yet, she hasn’t got a azygous instalment arsenic yet.”

Nandini was herself getting instalments till December 2025, erstwhile she was asked to bash the KYC again. The server issues and website problems did not let her to implicit the KYC process successful the stipulated time, she says, adding that she has present completed the process connected the telephone aft the caller model opened up.

Pragati Nakti, 22, parent to a baby, utilized to get her instalments regularly without immoderate problems till June 2025. Then, they stopped. She doesn’t cognize why. Nothing has changed, she says, adding that the station bureau wherever her wealth utilized to get deposited, can’t find a crushed either. She lives with her brother, parents, and uncle, and is the lone pistillate of the location who has filled the form.

Apart from filling the signifier online connected the portal, galore women person besides filled up offline forms via Anganwadi sevikas, ASHA workers, and gram sevaks. In fact, a fewer months ago, the ASHA workers and Anganwadi sevikas refused to enarthrosis the other load of enactment immoderate more.

Using the funds

Women accidental the wealth helps them walk connected medicine, connected children’s nutrient and education, and connected the regular needs of the family. “We don’t person to inquire our husbands for wealth immoderate more. We get our ain money. It feels good. But we bash not cognize for however agelong we volition get it. There is ever a consciousness that this volition halt immoderate minute,” says Shabnam Abdul Gaffar Shah, a 35-year aged parent of five, successful Mumbai’s Indiranagar.

The strategy helped buffer the daze of floods successful Maharashtra’s Marathwada successful 2025. It has helped successful the empowerment of women, giving a boost to the agrarian economy, says Shinde.

He says they garnered this quality from the women. “We had formed a helpline to question responses of women who were the aboriginal beneficiaries. It was astounding, the interaction the strategy had. Shops started flourishing again. Women were seen to beryllium spending chiefly connected healthcare, connected children’s education, clothing,” helium says.

Shinde says that portion Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Yojana was their relation model, the authorities drew inspiration from the occurrence of its ain scheme, Shasan Aplya Daari, which translates to authorities astatine your doorstep. Under this scheme, the authorities approached radical with its schemes to summation the fig of beneficiaries.

“We realised aft the investigation of information that precise fewer women were drafting benefits from authorities schemes. That is erstwhile we thought we needed to bash thing to summation the sum of women,” helium says. At the time, the Opposition had criticised the timing of the scheme, considering it came conscionable earlier the Maharashtra elections.

As a pilot, the Mukhyamantri Mahila Sashaktikaran Abhiyaan oregon Chief Minister’s Women Empowerment Drive was launched successful 2 districts of Maharashtra. It was withdrawn astir instantly owed to method issues, but was reintroduced aft the authorities bid was modified connected October 6, 2023.

“Inspired by its success, we launched the Nari Shaktidoot app. Within 1 day, 50,000 women registered connected it. When we saw that women were alert and funny successful schemes, we worked to rotation retired this strategy successful hardly 3 months. After the announcement, 2.47 crore women enrolled themselves. It was a record, and a precise satisfying process,” helium said.

He added that helium had prepared a database of 10 names, and that the past Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had liked and chosen the existent sanction ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’.