Widespread Fraud Uncovered in Maharashtra's 'Ladki Bahin' Welfare Scheme
A Maharashtra government review has found that over 14,000 men improperly received payments under the 'Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin' scheme, designed to provide ₹1,500 monthly to women. This single discrepancy led to a loss of ₹21.44 crore. In total, the review identified 2.63 million ineligible beneficiaries, whose payments have now been suspended pending verification. The findings expose significant loopholes in the state's direct benefit transfer system and have prompted promises of strict action to recover the misallocated funds.
Unpacked:
The 'Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin' scheme is a Maharashtra government initiative aimed at providing ₹1,500 per month to women. Its main objective is to offer financial assistance to women, promoting their economic empowerment and supporting their welfare.
Large-scale inclusion of ineligible beneficiaries, including men, can result from data entry errors, inadequate verification, and loopholes in the direct benefit transfer (DBT) system. Failures in deduplication, digitized data collection, and weak exception handling have been documented in similar welfare programs, leading to such errors.
The Maharashtra government has suspended payments to identified ineligible beneficiaries and promised strict action to recover the misallocated funds. Improved verification processes, stricter checks in beneficiary selection, and system audits are being implemented to strengthen the DBT mechanism and prevent recurrence.
Errors and fraud in India's DBT schemes are not uncommon. Despite measures like Aadhaar authentication, multiple states have seen fraudulent payments to ineligible people due to system loopholes, poor data quality, and local collusion. The RBI and authorities regularly caution and work with banks to tighten controls and reduce such incidents.