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-KYCelectronic ‘Know Your Customer’ identity verificationexercise 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.Separately, official records furnished by the Director show Rs 3,78,31,574.82 recovered from ineligible beneficiaries between October 2024 and July 2026, bringing combined recoveries under both heads to approximately Rs 6.51 crore. Recovery from ineligible beneficiaries has been more consistent though uneven: January 2025 saw Rs 34,00,533, July 2025 Rs 91,51,622, and July 2026 Rs 63,97,297.54, while August 2026 shows zero recovery, suggesting the process remains incomplete.

 

The death intimation data reveals a striking operational pattern. Since March 2024, the Directorate has received death intimations for 1,23,700 beneficiaries as of July 2026, with 4,000 to 5,000 such intimations arriving monthly on average. June 2026 alone recorded 19,197 death intimations, approximately 2.5 times May’s count of 7,722 and nearly four times the monthly average, against 3,780 in April and 6,295 in July. These are not necessarily women who died in those months; they are women whose deaths were reported to the Directorate during those months, with actual deaths possibly having occurred earlier. No official public explanation has been offered for the June spike. This sustained attrition drives the scheme’s continuously shrinking beneficiary base. From 70,09,658 women approved at launch in March 2024, the paid beneficiary count has contracted to 67,32,335 by July 2026, a reduction of 2,77,323 women from peak to present. The department attributes the decline to death intimations received, identification of ineligible registrations, duplicate applications and voluntary withdrawals. The Directorate’s claim that no payment has ever been delayed warrants scrutiny against its own numbers: June 2026 paid 68,62,909 beneficiaries while July paid only 67,32,335, a single-month reduction of 1,30,574 women receiving payment, with 1.46 lakh currently excluded due to incomplete e-KYC beyond the June 30 deadline.

 

Bastar division received a special extension to July 31, enabling 58,210 beneficiaries payment on July 25. The overall e-KYC deadline now stands extended to August 31, 2026. Against the 2026-27 budget of Rs 8,155 crore, Rs 642 crore was withdrawn each for June and July and Rs 635 crore for August, leaving Rs 5,594 crore available through March 2027 with an estimated surplus of approximately Rs 400 crore.