Nagpur: The Maharashtra Government, in its Budget for 2024-25, has announced a new initiative called the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin (Ladli Behna) Scheme. This scheme aims to provide monetary assistance to women in the state. Eligible women aged 21 to 60 years will receive a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 starting from July 2024.
However, the implementation of such schemes has faced challenges, as seen with the earlier Ladli Laxmi Yojana launched by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).
But the moot question here is while the State Government proposes the scheme, the implementing agency in Nagpur – the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) – disposes of it.
It is pertinent to mention that an ambitious scheme “Ladli Laxmi Yojana” launched by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) in 2012 for girls belonging to financially backward sections of city and effectively curb female foeticide has run into rough weather and is now lying in cold storage since past four years. The scheme “Ladli Laxmi Yojana” launched by NMC with much fanfare was an attempt to Save Girl Child and to lay a firm foundation of girls’ future through improvement in their educational and economic status and to bring about a positive change in social attitude towards birth of a girl. The scheme envisaged insuring every girl child below the age one year.
However, the dream scheme of NMC was abruptly bundled out in 2020. The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), through a policy decision, has dumped the very plan of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and thus dealt a shattering blow to the NMC scheme and ultimately the welfare of girl child.
With curbing the female foeticide in mind, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation launched the “Ladli Laxmi Yojana” for insuring girls born after June 6, 2012. Hundreds of poor parents lined up at the NMC office to avail the benefit and make their daughters’ future shining. Without spending a single rupee a girl would get Rs 1,24,500 till the age of 21 years, was the scheme. The civic body was paying Rs 2258 per child per annum as contribution to the scheme. In the year 2012-13, a total of 391 girls were insured while in 2013-14, 1501 girls got the benefit of the scheme.
But the ambitious NMC scheme got grounded in 2020. The IRDA, from the year 2014-15, scrapped the LIC plan through a policy decision.
Complex eligibility criteria:
The conditions to get benefit of this scheme are so complicated that it is not easy to avail the benefit of the scheme. The first condition is that the name of the beneficiary must be in the BPL category. According to BPL norms, if a beneficiary possesses a TV or two-wheeler, then the beneficiary is out of the BPL list.
The BPL list is always in controversy. Many families connected with politicians were included in the list while the genuine people ran from pillar to post to get a place in the BPL list.
The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin (Ladli Behna) Scheme represents a renewed effort by the Maharashtra Government to support women through financial assistance. However, the fate of the NMC’s Ladli Laxmi Yojana underscores the challenges of implementing and sustaining such schemes. The discontinuation of the Ladli Laxmi Yojana due to policy changes and complicated beneficiary conditions highlights the need for careful planning and flexible policies to ensure the long-term success of welfare programs.
