Maharashtra: Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Scheme Plummeted By 80 Lakhs After KYC Verifications.

Mumbai; May 2026: A political fiasco has now erupted in Maharashtra after the number of beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme declined sharply following a state-wide e-KYC verification exercise, with the Opposition alleging that the move reflects growing financial stress within the government. Government officials, while repudiating the allegations has said the reduction was largely the result of eligibility checks and non-compliance with mandatory verification requirements.

According to a senior Maharashtra government official, the number of beneficiaries under the scheme has fallen from around 02.40 crores to nearly 01.70 crore following this year’s April 30th deadline for completing e-KYC formalities. The government had provided beneficiaries with an eight-month window to complete the process. The official has further stated that between 50 lakh and 55 lakh women failed to complete the e-KYC procedure despite repeated opportunities. In addition, around 12 lakh beneficiaries were found to be income-tax payers whose annual income exceeded the scheme’s eligibility threshold, while more than 4.5 lakh women had crossed the upper age limit of 65 years.

Authorities also identified approximately 05 lakh women who were already receiving benefits under the Namo Shetkari scheme, making them ineligible under existing norms. A further 02 to 03 lakh beneficiaries reportedly corrected errors in their records during the verification period. Officials maintained that the reduction was not solely linked to incomplete e-KYC documentation and said complaints from women who had completed the process but allegedly missed monthly instalments were being examined.

“The final number of eligible beneficiaries will become clear within a week after all complaints and discrepancies are verified”, an official said, dismissing claims that nearly 80 lakh women had been excluded only because they failed to complete e-KYC requirements.

The Opposition, however, questioned the government’s explanation. Jayant Patil alleged that the reduction in beneficiary numbers pointed to a serious fiscal challenge facing the state administration.

Patil claimed that the scheme, which provides eligible women with monthly assistance of Rs 1,500, was launched ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections and that the subsequent removal of beneficiaries amounted to reneging on promises made to voters. Jayant Patil has further argued that the state’s widening fiscal deficit and broader economic pressures had forced the government to reassess expenditure commitments, adding that better planning could have prevented the current situation.

Similar allegations were made by Rohit Pawar, who accused the government of gradually reducing the beneficiary base with the eventual aim of winding down the scheme. Pawar claimed that while the programme had more than 2.4 crore beneficiaries before the Assembly elections, nearly 81 lakh names had now been removed. He described the e-KYC exercise as a pretext and questioned why adequate verification procedures were not completed before beneficiaries were enrolled.

The MLA also warned the government against attempting to recover funds already disbursed to beneficiaries or taking any action that could inconvenience women who had received assistance under the scheme. The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme remains one of the Maharashtra government’s flagship welfare initiatives, and the latest controversy is likely to intensify political debate over its implementation and future sustainability.

The controversy has stemmed from a recent official notification (April 2026) of the BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra, that the government has decided to cut down teak (sagwan) trees worth about Rs 12,000 crore to keep the politically prized programme afloat — a development that suggests the “winning” scheme may be costing rather more than advertised.

During the recent Budget session, forest minister Ganesh Naik informed the Vidhan Parishad that a proposal would be placed before the state cabinet to permit felling mature teak trees owned by the Maharashtra Forest Development Corporation (FDCM). The timber sale is expected to help repay loans of roughly Rs 6,000 crore raised from financial institutions — because apparently, when welfare arithmetic stops adding up, the forests must step in.

Launched ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections, the Ladki Bahin scheme promises Rs 1,500 per month to women beneficiaries and was widely seen as a key factor in the ruling coalition’s electoral pitch to women voters. But the scheme has since run into what might politely be described as ‘implementation issues’, and less politely as a full-blown verification mess.

By March 2026, scrutiny revealed that around 71 lakh beneficiaries were ineligible, including men and government employees — categories not traditionally associated with “beneficiary women”. Despite this, approximately Rs 21,300 crore had already been disbursed to these ineligible recipients over about 20 months. Recovery of these funds, inconveniently, does not appear to be on the government’s immediate agenda.

Eligibility checks through Aadhaar-PAN linked e-KYC have now been extended till April 2026, prolonging the awkward process of determining who exactly qualified for a scheme touted as both targeted and transformative.

Meanwhile, the fiscal strain of maintaining the programme appears to be reshaping budget priorities across departments. Funds have reportedly been diverted from the tribal affairs and social justice departments — ironic, given that both sectors deal with constituencies usually considered more structurally vulnerable than the average election-season beneficiary.

Officials in these departments have flagged shrinking allocations and slowing development work, but the Ladki Bahin scheme appears politically too useful to trim. Instead, other parts of the state apparatus are being quietly hollowed out.

The forest department is the latest to feel the pinch. Naik told the legislative council that the financial burden of welfare commitments such as Ladki Bahin has contributed to the state’s fiscal stress, prompting the department to monetise assets. The FDCM’s teak plantations, valued at roughly Rs 12,000 crore, are now considered harvest-ready — a phrase that, in this context, reads suspiciously like “budget adjustment”.

That forests must be liquidated to sustain a scheme marketed as both affordable and efficient raises obvious questions about fiscal planning. It also underscores the widening gap between headline welfare announcements and the messy realities of execution.

According to official figures, 1.90 crore women completed e-KYC verification, of whom 1.75 crore were found eligible. The remaining 71 lakh were declared ineligible after payments had already been made — a reminder that in the rush to distribute benefits, verification occasionally became an afterthought.

The Economic Survey presented in March 2026 estimates Maharashtra’s total public debt will reach Rs 9.32 lakh crore by the end of the 2025–26 financial year, up 18.3 percent from Rs 8.39 lakh crore the previous year. Against that backdrop, monetising teak forests to sustain a cash transfer scheme once projected as fiscally manageable adds a certain unintended symbolism.

After all, few welfare schemes can claim to have moved so seamlessly from campaign promise to budgetary juggle to forestry strategy — proving once again that in politics, growth sometimes means trees disappearing rather quickly.

Team Maverick.