A government welfare scheme designed to financially empower women in Chhattisgarh has, by its own official records, been transferring money into the bank accounts of dead women. The Mahtari Vandan Yojana (MVY), which has disbursed Rs 17,523 crore across 27 monthly instalments of Rs 1,000 each to eligible women since March 2024, carried within its own e-KYC-electronic ‘Know Your Customer’ identity verification-exercise a finding that no Government press release has ever mentioned: of 5,086 deceased beneficiaries identified during verification, 2,260 had already received Government money after their deaths.

 

The remaining 2,826 had never been paid at all, meaning the scheme’s own database had retained dead women as active beneficiaries across both categories, those who received money and those who did not, without the Government publicly acknowledging either fact. The disclosure was not volunteered. It was extracted by Sanjay Thul, a Nagpur-based RTI activist who filed an application on May 12, 2026 with the Directorate of Women and Child Development, Chhattisgarh, seeking performance data across six parameters for financial years 2023-24 to 2025-26. When contacted by The Hitavada with specific queries arising from this investigation, Dr Renuka Shrivastava (IAS), Director, Women and Child Development, Chhattisgarh, furnished written replies along with two official cash book documents, constituting the department’s formal version, that now place the recovery effort in precise and deeply revealing numerical context.

 

Official death recovery records furnished by Dr Shrivastava show a total of Rs 2,72,47,750 recovered from deceased beneficiaries’ accounts between December 2024 and August 2026. No recovery was initiated in the first nine months after the scheme’s March 2024 launch. Of the total recovered, Rs 2,05,05,550, representing 75.3 per cent, arrived in a single bulk consolidated bank transfer in July 2026 through Chhattisgarh Rajya Gramin Bank, a regional rural bank, and India Post Office Savings accounts, while Rs 64,13,800 came via a separate bulk transfer from Chhattisgarh Rajya Gramin Bank in August 2025. Together these two bulk transfers account for 98.8 per cent of all death-related recoveries ever made. Regular monthly collections across the remaining 16 months totalled just Rs 1,85,400, a mere 0.68 per cent of the total, confirming that systematic recovery from deceased beneficiaries was virtually non-existent until banks consolidated and remitted amounts in bulk.

 

 

The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), a Central Government scheme providing financial assistance to pregnant and lactating mothers implemented in Chhattisgarh by the State’s Women and Child Development Department, reveals a striking accountability gap in its State-level execution. While registered and verified beneficiaries grew from 1,72,623 in 2023-24 to 2,15,244 in 2025-26, a 24.7 per cent increase, total expenditure grew from Rs 3.14 crore to Rs 113.74 crore across the same period, an increase of over 3,500 per cent, with Government spending growing at a rate 143 times greater in percentage terms than beneficiary growth. Instalment disbursement data exposes a widening gap between registration and actual benefit delivery. In 2025-26, of 2,15,244 registered beneficiaries, only 1,45,831 received the first instalment on their first child and only 1,17,931 received the second instalment, meaning nearly 70,000 registered beneficiaries did not receive their first instalment entitlement and approximately 97,000 did not receive their second. Assistance for second girl child was paid to 47,143 beneficiaries in 2025-26 against 63,456 in 2024-25, a year-on-year decline of 25.7 per cent. 

 

 

 Chhattisgarh’s 42 operational Sakhi One Stop Centres, Government-run integrated support facilities for women facing violence and distress, have handled 66,105 cases since inception, disposing 61,045, a 92.3 per cent disposal rate. Legal aid was provided in 6,140 cases, medical assistance in 5,016, shelter extended to 21,982 women and counselling provided in 37,732 cases. Women Helpline 181, a Government distress helpline for women in crisis, received and actioned all 36,573 calls for assistance. Notably, this welfare performance data was withheld in the Directorate’s initial RTI response and surfaced only after The Hitavada’s intervention. Meanwhile, malnutrition data under Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyan covering children identified as Severely Acute Malnourished and Moderately Acute Malnourished and Anganwadi centre infrastructure figures remain publicly undisclosed, a measurable gap in public health accountability for a State that has historically ranked among India’s most nutritionally vulnerable.