Mumbai: Within hours of being sworn in as Maharashtra’s new chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis announced that his government would be undertaking a scrutiny of the popular Ladki Bahin Yojna. HT had first reported on November 25, two days after the Mahayuti’s landslide win, that a recalibration was on the cards of the scheme that has been budgeted at ₹46,000 crore annually.

Fadnavis said one of the first measures of his government will be to examine the list of the beneficiaries and to weed out those who are ineligible. “There are complaints about the beneficiaries not complying with the parameters and their scrutiny is necessary. It will not be completely scrapped. The scrutiny will be on the lines of the PM Kisan Yojana, where the ineligible beneficiaries had given up their benefit on their own,” he said.

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He also said that the proposal to hike the pay out from ₹1,500 per woman to ₹2,100, as promised in their manifesto, will come into effect from the next financial year.

At present, Maharashtra has over 24.3 million beneficiaries of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, under which a monthly cash benefit of ₹1,500 is credited into the accounts of beneficiaries, and for which the state pays ₹3,700 crore per month.

Fadnavis’s predecessor and the newly sworn in deputy chief minister, Eknath Shinde, said at a separate press briefing that he and others in the government had directed the bureaucracy to transfer the December instalment into the accounts of the beneficiaries immediately. “The scheme has played a key role in our election success and it will not be scrapped,” he insisted. The November instalment had been paid in October itself as the election code of conduct was implemented the following month.

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At his first press briefing as CM, Fadnavis also spoke about the possibility of a caste-based survey as has been demanded by the Congress party. He said his government was not against the idea per se. “We supported the caste-based survey in Bihar, and are not against it. But it should not be weaponised as it hampers the micro OBCs. There should be clarity on the intention of conducting a caste-based survey,” he added.

When asked whether his government will allow the Opposition to have a leader in the Assembly as they do not have the requisite numbers which is 10% of the total seats, Fadnavis said that call would be taken by the Speaker. “In the Lok Sabha too, there was no opposition leader for 10 years, but the largest opposition party was extended the protocol and statutory powers it was due,” he pointed out.

Fadnavis said he looked forward to an improvement in the political discourse in the state. “I appeal to all the parties to contribute towards restoring the culture of civility for which Maharashtra was known in the past,” he said.