The Maharashtra government has removed around 92 lakh beneficiaries from its flagship Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana following a large scale verification exercise. This follows scrutiny of beneficiary records through e-KYC and eligibility verification.
According to a report by Loksatta cited by NDTV Marathi, after the verification drive, the number of beneficiaries has fallen by roughly 38%, with the active beneficiary base now standing at around 1.53 crore women, down from more than 2.45 crore women earlier. The decrease is not only due to non-completion of the necessary procedures but also due to various reasons related to the eligibility criteria, officials said, as per the report. About 50 to 55 lakh women could not complete the e-KYC process within the deadline. While 12 lakh women had an annual family income exceeding the limit set for the scheme, it added.
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According to Maharashtra Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare, the verification exercise was carried out to ensure that only genuinely eligible women receive benefits under the scheme, the report mentioned.
Through the verification drive, the government identified beneficiaries who failed to complete mandatory e-KYC, exceeded the scheme's annual family income limit of Rs. 2.5 lakh, owned four-wheelers or were duplicate or otherwise ineligible beneficiaries based on data verification.
What is the verification process?
The state adopted a digital verification system that cross-checks beneficiary details with multiple government databases, including income tax records and vehicle registration records. Beneficiaries were required to complete e-KYC through the Nari Shakti Doot mobile application or designated service centres.
Women whose status changed from "approved" to "ineligible" have been approaching Gram Panchayats and local government offices to seek clarification and request reinstatement. The government said that women who believe that they were wrongly removed can seek re-verification by submitting the required documents, NDTV reported.
The state government has maintained that the scheme itself continues and that eligible women will continue receiving the monthly assistance. According to the government, removing ineligible beneficiaries is expected to significantly reduce expenditure on the scheme by eliminating payments made to those who do not qualify.
This is the latest phase of a wider verification campaign that began in 2025. Earlier the government had identified 26 lakh suspected ineligible beneficiaries for physical verification. In a subsequent e-KYC drive a few months ago, around 80 lakh names had already been removed before the latest updated figure of 92 lakh.
The verification process also uncovered cases of misuse, including more than 14,000 men allegedly registering as women to claim the benefits and other ineligible recipients such as government employees, income taxpayers and women from higher income households receiving payments contrary to the scheme's eligibility norms.
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