The Ladki Bahin Scheme was launched in August 2024 with a clear goal — help women from poor families by giving them Rs 1,500 every month. The money was only meant for women aged between 21 and 65 from low-income backgrounds.
But in just ten months, over 14,000 men received money under this scheme. Yes, men. A shocking total of Rs 21.44 crore was wrongly paid to them, according to a report by CNN-News18 citing official sources.
This is not a small mistake. This is a major mess-up.
How Did This Happen?
During a routine audit, officials found that thousands of beneficiaries were not women, but men who gave fake or incorrect details in their applications. These men managed to get into the list and started receiving monthly payments under the Ladki Bahin Scheme.
Now, the government is investigating how this happened. They are checking the full process — how these men got into the list, who approved the applications, and where the verification failed.
No Answers Yet
So far, the Women and Child Development Department, which runs the Ladki Bahin Yojana, has not given any official statement. People are asking how such a large fraud went unnoticed for ten months.
Sources say the government is planning to take action against the officers who failed in their duties. There may also be steps to recover the money from those who took it wrongly.
Not the First Time
This is not the first time something like this has happened in Maharashtra. In the past, other welfare schemes like the Sanitary Napkin Subsidy Scheme and the Shiv Bhojan Thali have also seen similar frauds. In those cases too, wrong people got benefits, and the real needy were left out.
People want answers. And more importantly, they want justice. The money belongs to the women of Maharashtra — not to men who lied.
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