'Won't stop at Rs 1500': Maharashtra CM Shinde promises to increase money under Ladki Bahin Yojna

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday promised to increase the financial aid under the Ladki Bahin Yojana if his alliance gets more strength. He was referring to the upcoming assembly elections to be held in November-October. "My government will not stop at Rs 1500. If you give us strength, the money will increase," Shinde said at the launch of the scheme in Satara.

Earlier this year, the Maharashtra government announced Ladki Bahin Yojana to provide financial assistance to women. Under the scheme, women with an annual family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh will be given Rs 1,500 as monthly financial aid.

Shinde said a sum of Rs 3000 crore has been disbursed to one crore eligible women so far and Rs 35,000 crore has been earmarked for the year. He asserted that the Ladki Bahin Yojana and the move to give three free cylinders were attempts to make women "atmanirbhar" (self-reliant) and not election gimmicks.

"However, evil step brothers are maligning these schemes," he said in a swipe at the opposition parties. Those born with silver spoons in their mouths will not understand the importance and value of Rs 1,500," he added. 

Scrap registration cut-off date: Prithviraj Chavan

Meanwhile, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has urged the Shinde government to remove the registration cut-off date for the Ladki Bahin Yojana, allowing all eligible women to access financial assistance. In a letter to the Chief Minister, Chavan called for the August 31 deadline to be eliminated and for the scheme to be recognized as a social security right.

Due to technical glitches, the server of the official portal is non-functional most of the time, while in several instances women do not get the registration OTP for nearly six hours, he said, adding that women are worried they will not be able to register themselves for the scheme in time.

At the time of rollout of the scheme, the registration deadline was set for July 15, but it was extended to August 31. The age limit for eligibility was raised from 60 to 65 years.