Overview

• On May 29, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rejected opposition accusations, affirming that no departmental funds were diverted to the Ladki Bahin scheme.
• He clarified that SC/ST budget rules require allocations for personal benefit schemes like Ladki Bahin to be routed through the Tribal Affairs and Social Justice Departments.
• The budgets for those departments have been raised by nearly 1.45 times for 2025-26 to accommodate the scheme’s disbursements.
• Under the initiative, women aged 21 to 65 from families earning under ₹2.5 lakh annually receive a monthly stipend of ₹1,500.
• Earlier this month, Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat accused the finance department of unauthorisedly diverting roughly ₹413 crore from his department’s allocation.