Radhika Kamble, 49, seethes with anger every time someone mentions the Ladki Bahin Yojana, Maharashtra’s welfare initiative targeted at women. She feels betrayed, because two years after the scheme’s announcement, she has not yet been able to become a beneficiary. For a widow taking care of the household, the process was too overwhelming and there was no help, she says.

But that was not what left her feeling vulnerable. Within months of her husband dying, she was asked to take a photograph bereft of the mangalsutra, a symbol of marriage.

“They told me that the officials should be able to easily identify women who really need the money. Married women don’t need it as much. We need it the most. The government will understand after looking at our photos, we were told,” she says. She chokes on her emotions. Sitting in a small, unventilated room in Sangamnagar, Mumbai, she goes through the documents and her photo again and again. Frustrated, she says, “Maybe money is not written into my fate.”

Glitches and headaches

The Maharashtra government launched the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana on June 28, 2024, under the leadership of then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, “to promote women’s economic independence, improve their health and nutrition, and strengthen their decisive role in the family,” as per the policy document.

The government said the scheme would provide ₹1,500 via a Direct Benefit Transfer to women in Maharashtra between ages 21 and 65 years, from low-income families. The family’s annual income was to be below ₹2.5 lakh.

Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana — translated as the Chief Minister’s ‘My Favourite Sister’ scheme — was modelled on a similar scheme in Madhya Pradesh, and was expected to cost the government ₹46,000 crore annually.

The government introduced terms and conditions for the scheme. Women who had a family member with government employment, or belonging to families that paid taxes, or belonged to families that owned a car did not qualify. There was a cap of two women per household who could get the cash benefit. Those who were getting similar amounts of money from other government schemes were also not eligible.

In July, the first month after the scheme was launched, the government received 1.5 crore applications from across Maharashtra, says Amol Shinde, who was the head of the CM Welfare Cell when the scheme was launched in the previous Eknath Shinde government. The first payments to the 1.5 crore women started in August 2024, two days ahead of Raksha Bandhan, and a few months ahead of the Assembly elections. Women thronged banks to get their Know-Your-Customer (KYC) established, so they could avail themselves of the money. In the second month, September, about 2.6 crore women were registered. The scrutiny of the applications than began taking place and only 2.4 crore received the benefit, says Shinde. The government subsequently introduced another condition requiring women to complete e-KYC verification, after which the number of beneficiaries began to decline. In December 2025, the number of beneficiaries was 1.57 crore.

Many women say the payments came for several months, and then simply stopped, despite all documentation being complete. Some beneficiaries are still struggling to link their Aadhaar numbers to their bank accounts through an online system that often requires external assistance to complete the necessary forms.

The Opposition in Maharashtra has trained its guns on the government for slashing the number of beneficiaries, and for the financial strain the scheme has put on the State exchequer. It has accused the government of diverting funds from other welfare schemes to continue giving benefits under Majhi Ladki Bahin.

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

In 2025, flawed e-KYC questions wrongly flagged 24 lakh beneficiaries as government employees, halting their instalments, according to the Women and Child Development Department. Technical issues and glitches with the portal have plagued the effective rollout of the scheme so far, with women complaining of OTP failures, Aadhaar-bank linkage errors, and data mismatches.

In July 2025, a verification drive led to the suspension of 26.34 lakh accounts due to irregularities, including multiple claims within the same family, men receiving funds, and beneficiaries availing themselves of dual scheme benefits. Re-verification was subsequently conducted by district collectors. In January 2026, the e-KYC deadline was extended as a ‘last chance’ to rectify errors/OTP issues, until March 31, 2026.

Women speak out

In Mumbai’s Sangamnagar, Radhika, a mother of two, both in their 20s, lost her husband. A clerk, he fell and broke his hip. “We did not have the money to get him operated on,” she says. He eventually died.

The period after his death is a fog for her. When the scheme was announced, a local politician brought tempos with local party workers, who went door-to-door distributing forms for the scheme. Many women said they queued up at these tempos to submit the forms along with their documents.

Radhika was one of them. When she did not get any instalment as other women started getting theirs in their account, she went to her bank to inquire. They asked her to check online. The operator of the cybercafe around her house asked her to visit her bank, saying some KYC documentation was pending. She went repeatedly between the bank and the cybercafe. Each time she had to travel to the nationalised bank, she would have to skip work, the odd jobs she had picked up in the vicinity.

“After several visits, my son asked me not to feel bitter and to give up on it. I still feel there has to be some resolution. But there is no helpline, nobody to guide me,” she says. Now, with a new window for e-KYC opening up, she has filled it online and hopes to be enrolled as a beneficiary.

It is similar for Shakuntala Devi, 55, whose bank account was not linked to her Aadhaar number. Devi stays with her husband, two daughters, and a grand-daughter. She lost her son last year. Her husband is a taxi driver.

“Her account was shut down automatically,” says her 26-year-old daughter Nandini Gautam. “We don’t know if it was because it was inactive. We opened another account and linked it with her Aadhaar, but the record showed that the seeding was inactive. The bank told us to fill up a DBT form. We did it. And yet, she hasn’t got a single instalment as yet.”

Nandini was herself getting instalments till December 2025, when she was asked to do the KYC again. The server issues and website problems did not allow her to complete the KYC process in the stipulated time, she says, adding that she has now completed the process on the phone after the new window opened up.

Pragati Nakti, 22, mother to a baby, used to get her instalments regularly without any problems till June 2025. Then, they stopped. She doesn’t know why. Nothing has changed, she says, adding that the post office where her money used to get deposited, can’t find a reason either. She lives with her brother, parents, and uncle, and is the only woman of the house who has filled the form.

Apart from filling the form online on the portal, many women have also filled up offline forms via Anganwadi sevikas, ASHA workers, and gram sevaks. In fact, a few months ago, the ASHA workers and Anganwadi sevikas refused to shoulder the extra burden of work any more.

Using the funds

Women say the money helps them spend on medicine, on children’s food and education, and on the daily needs of the family. “We don’t have to ask our husbands for money any more. We get our own money. It feels good. But we do not know for how long we will get it. There is always a sense that this will stop any minute,” says Shabnam Abdul Gaffar Shah, a 35-year old mother of five, in Mumbai’s Indiranagar.

The scheme helped buffer the shock of floods in Maharashtra’s Marathwada in 2025. It has helped in the empowerment of women, giving a boost to the rural economy, says Shinde.

He says they garnered this intelligence from the women. “We had formed a helpline to seek responses of women who were the early beneficiaries. It was astounding, the impact the scheme had. Shops started flourishing again. Women were seen to be spending primarily on healthcare, on children’s education, clothing,” he says.

Shinde says that while Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna Yojana was their role model, the government drew inspiration from the success of its own scheme, Shasan Aplya Daari, which translates to government at your doorstep. Under this scheme, the government approached people with its schemes to increase the number of beneficiaries.

“We realised after the analysis of data that very few women were drawing benefits from government schemes. That is when we thought we needed to do something to increase the coverage of women,” he says. At the time, the Opposition had criticised the timing of the scheme, considering it came just before the Maharashtra elections.

As a pilot, the Mukhyamantri Mahila Sashaktikaran Abhiyaan or Chief Minister’s Women Empowerment Drive was launched in two districts of Maharashtra. It was withdrawn almost immediately due to technical issues, but was reintroduced after the government order was modified on October 6, 2023.

“Inspired by its success, we launched the Nari Shaktidoot app. Within one day, 50,000 women registered on it. When we saw that women were aware and interested in schemes, we worked to roll out this scheme in barely three months. After the announcement, 2.47 crore women enrolled themselves. It was a record, and a very satisfying process,” he said.

He added that he had prepared a list of 10 names, and that the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had liked and chosen the current name ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’.

Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra continues to grapple with internal discontent as Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is reportedly upset and away in his hometown.

Senior Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar on Monday sparked speculation by suggesting that the BJP may no longer need Mr. Shinde, hinting at the possibility of a new leader emerging within the Shinde faction, similar to how Mr. Shinde himself rose to prominence after breaking away from Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena.

The Congress leader was reacting to talk within political circles about Mr. Shinde’s unhappiness over the appointment of guardian ministers by Mr. Fadnavis.

Reviewing work: Shinde

Sources said Mr. Shinde has left for his native village in Satara district for a personal visit. However, the Deputy Chief Minister dismissed the claims and said that he was staying in his village as he was touring the district to review the ongoing irrigation project works. “I want to end this speculation… I came to the village as I am touring the area to review the irrigation project works,” he said.

Mr. Wadettiwar said: “There is an ongoing discord within the Mahayuti despite its massive majority in the Assembly elections. First, there were delays in Cabinet expansion, then controversies over guardian minister appointments, and now, the reversal of these appointments within 24 hours. This clearly indicates that all is not well within the government.”

He further criticised the “instability”, saying: “Today, they are changing guardian ministers; tomorrow, they might replace ministers or even the deputy chief minister. At this rate, the public will eventually have to put this government on hold. Instead of focusing on district development, these three parties — BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP — are competing over who will grab the largest share of benefits. This has led to growing dissatisfaction within the alliance.”

He also questioned the government’s priorities, pointing out delays in implementing key promises like the Ladki Bahin scheme of ₹2,100 allowance for women beneficiaries, reducing the number of beneficiaries, and failing to address farmer loan waivers. “Instead of addressing these pressing issues, the government is embroiled in internal conflicts, dragging Maharashtra into chaos,” he claimed.

Mumbai:

Gold chains, mobile phones and cash cumulatively valued at Rs 12 lakh were stolen during the swearing-in ceremony of the Mahayuti government at the sprawling Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on December 5, a police official said on Sunday.

FIRs have been lodged against unidentified persons and efforts are on to nab the accused, the Azad Maidan police station official said.

The ceremony, in which BJP stalwart Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister and Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputies, was a grand affair with top names of industry, cinema and politics in attendance, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

More than 4,000 police personnel were deployed at the venue and the vicinity to secure the event.

“The thieves, who stole gold chains, phones and picked wallets, took advantage of people exiting the event from gate number two. Personnel from the police station and Crime Branch are working to nab the accused. CCTV footage is being checked. No arrest has been made so far,” the official informed.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jairam Ramesh. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Congress on Monday (September 16, 2024) criticised the Mahayuti government for awarding the Adani Group a contract to supply 6,600 MW of bundled renewable and thermal power to Maharashtra. It questioned whether this ‘favour’ to the conglomerate would lead to a significant tariff burden on the State’s consumers.

The party’s general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh said that despite the Mahayuti government ‘stumbling towards a landslide defeat,’ they are using their final days in power to push a ‘Modani agenda’ by awarding the Adani Group a massive power procurement contract.

Adani Group says press release in circulation on its Kenya projects is fake

“Even as the Mahayuti Government in Maharashtra totters towards a landslide defeat, they choose to spend their last few days in power pursuing a Modani enterprise, giving the Adani Group a giant power purchasing contract,” he said in a post on X.

The Adani Group recently secured a long-term contract to supply 6,600 MW of bundled renewable and thermal power to Maharashtra after its bid of ₹4.08 per unit outcompeted rivals such as JSW Energy and Torrent Power. The power supply is scheduled to begin 48 months after the issuance of the letter of intent.

“Here are five questions for the non-biological PM on his new joint venture. Is it not true that – The terms and conditions of the tender issued by the Maharashtra Government for bids on 1,600 MW thermal and 5,000 MW solar on 13.03.2024 were modified from the Standard Bidding Guidelines to minimise competition?” the former Union Minister said.

“The tariff for the 1,600 MW coal power is roughly ₹12 crore per MW – at a time when Adani has itself contracted with BHEL for less than seven crore per MW and other providers such as NTPC/DVC/Neveli Lignite Corporations are implementing large thermal projects at ₹8-9 crore per MW?” he said.

Mr. Ramesh asked whether ₹28,000 crore of the project cost will be financed entirely by the agencies controlled by the Ministry of Power of the Maharashtra Government.

“Tariffs for solar power are in the ₹2.5 per unit range but Adani Green will be supplying power at ₹2.7 per unit? These revdis distributed to the Adani Group will but a heavy burden of tariff on the 2.7 crore consumers in the State of Maharashtra?” the Congress leader asked.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and and Ajit Pawar during the foundation stone laying and inauguration ceremony of multiple developmental projects in Mumbai on July 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Mahayuti government on July 23 welcomed the Union Budget for allocating funds and projects worth over ₹8,000 crore for Maharashtra, while the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) criticised it for focusing mainly on Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, States ruled by allies of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Shiv Sena president and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repaid the trust placed in him by every Indian and brought relief to the common man by making major changes in the tax structure. He also referred to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remark that it is a “Navratna Budget” focusing on farmers, women, youth, skill development, employment, infrastructure development, urban development, social justice, and ‘Developed India’.

‘Too little, too late’

However, NCP (SP) working president and Baramati MP Supriya Sule alleged that Maharashtra has been neglected despite the BJP-led Mahayuti government depending on the support of two other political outfits. She said only two States seem to be “Ladki (adorable)” for the Centre — Bihar and Andhra Pradesh — alluding to the Maharashtra government’s Ladki Behan and Ladka Bhau schemes introduced in the State Budget.

“In 2014, Chandrababu Naidu had made a request for aid, but he did not receive support then. Now, it’s too little, too late. The credit for this shift should go to India’s voters. When they [the BJP] had 303 MPs, they did not prioritise helping Andhra Pradesh or Bihar. But after their numbers dropped to 240, they started paying attention to these two States,” Ms. Sule said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and MLA Aaditya Thackeray said the Union government through its Budget seemed to indicate that the BJP does not like Maharashtra. He questioned why the State, despite being the largest taxpayer, received less allocation in the Budget. “I can understand the BJP wanting to save its [NDA] government and giving Bihar and Andhra Pradesh a huge sum of the budget. But what is Maharashtra’s fault? That we are the largest taxpayer? What did we get against what we contributed? Was Maharashtra mentioned even once in the budget? Why does the BJP hate and insult Maharashtra so much? This isn’t the first time, through the entire past decade of BJP’s government, we have seen this bias against Maharashtra,” he posted on X.

State Congress chief Nana Patole blamed the three constituents of the Mahayuti government — the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP — for Maharashtra not receiving any major allocation and said the trio of Mr. Shinde and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar isn’t trusted any more by the Centre. He also pointed out that the stock markets had tanked during the presentation of the Budget. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex fell by over 1,000 points, slipping below the 80,000-mark. It recovered prior to closing hours, but remained in the red.

“The fact that the stock market also collapsed shows that it was a disappointing Budget for various sectors. Yet the Chief Minister is showering praises on the Prime Minister and Finance Minister. It only goes on to show that he is more concerned about his position in Maharashtra and desperate for power,” Mr. Patole said.

Fadnavis’s riposte

Refuting the claims made by Maha Vikas Aghadi, Mr. Fadnavis said Maharashtra had secured schemes, projects and funds worth at least ₹8,045 crore. He then went on to list some of the proposed allocations for the State — ₹600 crore for irrigation projects in Vidarbha and Marathwada, ₹400 crore for Maharashtra Rural Road Improvement, ₹466 crore for economic corridors for inclusive development, ₹598 crore for environment-friendly, sustainable agriculture projects, ₹150 crore for Maharashtra agriculture and rural transformation project, ₹908 crore for Mumbai Urban Transport Project-3, ₹1,087 crore for Mumbai Metro, ₹499 crore for Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, ₹150 crore for Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s green urban mobility, ₹500 crore for Nagpur Metro, ₹814 crore for Pune Metro, ₹500 crore for Nag river pollution abatement, and ₹690 crore for Mula Mutha river conservation.