New Delhi: Nearly 8 lakh beneficiaries of the Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana had their stipends slashed by the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra and will now only receive Rs 500 monthly instead of the Rs 1,500 that was initially stipulated under the Ladki Bahin scheme. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called the move “the jumla model of BJP.”
The revised structure comes as these beneficiaries also received Rs 1,000 monthly through the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi (NSMN) scheme. It pushed the total government benefits beyond the Rs 1,500 cap set by the Ladli Bahin scheme’s guidelines.
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The Rajya Sabha MP slammed the Mahayuti government for remembering the “laadli bahin” only during elections and forgetting them as soon as they are over.
Emphasising the growing indebtedness and the rising inflation, the Congress leader pointed out how the policies of the Modi government have made it “even more difficult” for common women to run the household.
“The message of the government is clear – With one hand, spend money on your capitalist friends, and loot the public’s pockets with the other!” wrote Ramesh in an X post.
Slamming the Modi administration, he stated that lakhs of families are now burdened with debt, with women forced to take loans by mortgaging their gold to run the house and raise children.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday said, “You need a certain level of shamelessness that after forming government with a thumping majority, you don’t include any of your poll promises in the first budget of the government.”
The scheme initially received an overwhelming response, with around 26.3 million women applying by October. Following multiple rounds of verification, the number was reduced to 25.2 million by February. A month later, the final tally of verified beneficiaries stood at 24.6 million.
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State Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare clarified that as per government resolutions dated June 28 and July 3, 2024, the scheme provides Rs 1,500 per month to women not receiving benefits from any other government programme. “In accordance with the same government decision, the remaining difference of Rs 500 as a Samman Fund is being distributed to 7,74,148 women who are receiving the benefit of Rs 1,000 per month under the Namo Shetkari Samman Yojana,” she said.
Meanwhile, since the pandemic, household debt has ballooned at an alarming pace. From just 36.6% of GDP in June 2021, household debt has risen to 42.9% by mid-2024 — significantly higher than the pre-Covid (2015-19) average of around 33%.
