Maharashtra: 1 Crore Women Registered for CM Ladki Bahin Scheme

Mumbai: One crore women in Maharashtra have registered themselves for the 'Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana' (CM My Beloved Sister scheme), a flagship scheme of chief minister Eknath Shinde. The highest registration has taken place in Pune, followed by Thane, Nashik and Ahmednagar. The department of Child and Women Development on Tuesday gave a presentation on it in the cabinet meeting.

The scheme, which aims to provide financial aid of Rs 1500 per month to the women having annual family income less than Rs 2.50 lakh, was announced in the budget tabled by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar last month. The scheme is being implemented from July 01. The state government is confident that the scheme will be a major game changer for them in the state Assembly elections after the Lok Sabha debacle.

Aditi Tatkare, the Minister of Women and Child Development, said that they have touched the mark of one crore women registration Tuesday. Out of these, nearly 60 per cent women are married, while five to six per cent are widows.

“We have been registering five to seven lakh women every day in the state. The way the women are coming out for the registration, it appears that we will cross the estimated numbers of 2.5 crore women in a few days. We will provide the benefits of the scheme to all eligible women,” Ms Tatkare said.

The minister further said that they have instructed the Anganwadi Sevika (workers) to register eligible women for the scheme. The first installment will be deposited to the eligible beneficiaries on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

“After the registration of the women for the scheme, each application will be scrutinised. Once it has been finalised, a list of beneficiaries will be read out at each village. Even those, who are disqualified in the scrutiny, will be given reasons for the same,” the cabinet minister said.

According to the department, nearly 50 lakh women have downloaded application forms from the Nari Shakti Doot App, which is an online platform.

An official from the chief minister’s office said that more than five lakh women have been registered in Pune district and more than four lakh women have been enrolled in Thane, Nashik and Ahmednagar district each. “The lowest turnout of women is in Washim, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts of Vidarbha region,” the official said.

The ruling parties are hoping to reap the benefits of the scheme in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly election, like the BJP government did in Madhya Pradesh Assembly election in 2023.