AROUND 80 lakh women have become ineligible from receiving benefits under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana post an e-KYC process, leading the Opposition to allege the Maharashtra Government was weeding out recipients due to a “severe financial crisis”. However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rejected allegations that the Government had removed lakhs of women from the cash transfer scheme, asserting only ineligible beneficiaries were weeded out through a verification process.

 

A senior official informed that the beneficiary count has dropped from 2.4 crore to nearly 1.7 crore after the e-KYC (Know Your Customer) deadline of April 30, but the disqualifications were also linked to non-compliance with eligibility criteria of the scheme launched two years ago. The Government had provided an eight-month window for beneficiaries to complete their e-KYC to continue getting the monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 under the scheme targeted at poorer women, he said.

 

“Around 50 to 55 lakh women failed to complete the process entirely, while two to three lakh rectified errors during this period. Additionally, nearly 12 lakh women were found to be income-tax payers exceeding the annual income cap of Rs 2.5 lakh (under the scheme), and over 4.5 lakh had crossed the upper age limit of 65 years,” the official said. Around five lakh women were already receiving benefits under the Namo Shetkari scheme for farmers, he added. Addressing complaints that women who completed e-KYC missed monthly instalments, the official noted, “The final figure of actual beneficiaries will be clear in a week, and the complaints are being cross-verified.” He denied that 80 lakh women were dropped from the scheme solely on the grounds of non-completion of e-KYC.