MUMBAI: Following the huge response to the state government’s scheme to provide assistance of ₹1,500 a month to women, the Shinde government announced an expansion of its scope and also relaxed several conditions so that more women could become beneficiaries.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar had announced the ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’ in the budget, a scheme modelled on the Ladli Bahen scheme of the Madhya Pradesh government, under which a monthly sum of ₹1,500 would be given to women in the age group of 21 to 60. Following the announcement, thousands of women rushed to local government offices, especially in rural areas, to enrol themselves as beneficiaries. There were several complaints that the criteria fixed for the beneficiaries was a hindrance in getting applications cleared.
In response, the state government on Wednesday relaxed several conditions in the scheme. Announcing the same, women and child welfare minister Aditi Tatkare said that the deadline to file the application was now extended from July 15 to August 31, and that those applying on August 31 would also get the benefits from July 1.
“Earlier, we had said that a domicile certificate was necessary, but we are doing away with this,” said Tatkare. “Instead, a ration card issued 15 years ago, a school-leaving certificate from the state, a voter ID card or proof of birth will be treated as valid. Earlier, those possessing farmland above five acres were barred but this condition has been done away with, which will increase beneficiaries in Marathwada and Vidarbha. Earlier, women from 21 to 60 years could get the benefit and now women up to 65 years can get it.” Tatkare added that women from other states who married a man from Maharashtra could also get the benefit of the scheme. “This will help women from areas close to the Maharashtra border,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}“Earlier, we had said that a domicile certificate was necessary, but we are doing away with this,” said Tatkare. “Instead, a ration card issued 15 years ago, a school-leaving certificate from the state, a voter ID card or proof of birth will be treated as valid. Earlier, those possessing farmland above five acres were barred but this condition has been done away with, which will increase beneficiaries in Marathwada and Vidarbha. Earlier, women from 21 to 60 years could get the benefit and now women up to 65 years can get it.” Tatkare added that women from other states who married a man from Maharashtra could also get the benefit of the scheme. “This will help women from areas close to the Maharashtra border,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}The minister added that women who did not have an income certificate but had an orange or red ration card could use those. A married woman and an unmarried woman from the same household can both avail of the scheme.
Meanwhile, CM Eknath Shinde has directed his officials to initiate strict action against officers and employees found creating any obstruction in the process and demanding money from women for providing the necessary certificates or filling up the forms. The CM declared that district collectors should ensure that the whole process was transparent and speedy and instructed them to appoint nodal officers in every district to monitor the scheme.
Shinde also said that brokers and middlemen, who would likely mushroom on the pretext of making available the required documents or filling up the forms for the scheme, would not be tolerated. “If such acts are observed in any office, stringent action will be initiated against the chief of the office and the middlemen,” he said. Shinde held a meeting on Tuesday at Vidhan Bhavan with regard to bringing in transparency and speedening up the implementation of the scheme.
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, while speaking in the council, said that the state government was taking precautions to prevent the misuse of the Ladki Bahin scheme. “We have a criterion that only two eligible women from one family will get the benefit of the scheme,” he said, “so that those who followed family planning should not feel that they committed some mistake by doing so.”
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