Maharashtra waives ₹4500-5000 cr for ineligible Ladki Bahin women
Maharashtra just announced a big relief: around 25 to 30 lakh women who got money from the Ladki Bahin scheme (despite not meeting all the rules) won't have to pay anything back.
That's a ₹4,500 crore to ₹5,000 crore waiver.
The scheme, launched in June 2024, originally let people self-certify their eligibility.
Review finds 14,000 men wrongly benefited
The government began evaluating its beneficiary list in January 2025 showed that out of 80 lakh beneficiaries who missed recent payments, about 25 to 30 lakh didn't actually qualify (think: earning over ₹2.5 lakh a year or owning four-wheelers).
Plus, there were even 14,000 men who sneaked in and grabbed over ₹25 crore. They'll have to return it.
The government has already recovered funds from five lakh ineligible employees and was open to reopening eKYC so eligible women who missed the deadline for genuine reasons can still get the monthly ₹1,500 benefit.