politics · 2026-07-13
CAG Flags ₹19K Cr Gaps in Ladki Bahin Yojana
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CAG audit finds Maharashtra spent ₹3,541 crore over budget on Ladki Bahin Yojana with no explanation given.₹15,586 crore withdrawn between Jan-Mar 2025 sat unused in deposit accounts instead of reaching women.Auditors warn this weakens legislative oversight of Maharashtra's ₹33,237 crore welfare spend.
Why did the dept overspend by ₹3,541 crore?
The Women and Child Development Dept spent ₹33,237.24 crore against an approved ₹29,693.09 crore budget, a ₹3,541 crore overshoot. CAG says the dept gave no specific reason for this extra spending, raising questions about how funding needs were originally estimated.
How does a dept miss its budget by ₹3.5K crore?
Departments often underestimate beneficiary numbers when a scheme launches fast, as Ladki Bahin did in Jun 2024. Actual enrolment then exceeds projections, forcing supplementary demands. CAG's fix: realistic, fact-based beneficiary counts before budgeting, not after rollout.
What triggered the sudden 128x jump in spending?
Women's welfare spend jumped from ₹261.78 crore the prior year to over ₹33,500 crore, a shift CAG calls a move toward direct cash transfers over asset creation. This is the scale-up itself, not overspending, that explains the jump.
Does Maharashtra face any penalty for this gap?
No penalty is specified in CAG's report. Its role is oversight, not enforcement. Consequences depend on the Maharashtra legislature's Public Accounts Committee acting on the findings, similar to how past CAG reports on other state schemes prompted procedural audits, not fines.
Could this fund parking have been avoided?
CAG says treasury withdrawals should match immediate spending needs, but ₹15,586 crore drawn between Jan-Mar 2025 sat in Virtual Personal Deposit Accounts instead. Better beneficiary data upfront, which CAG explicitly recommends, could have prevented both the overshoot and the parking.
What are VPDAs meant for if not this?
Virtual Personal Deposit Accounts exist for genuinely urgent, sanctioned expenses when treasury processes are slow. Using them to simply hold ₹15,586 crore without an immediate spending plan defeats that purpose and is what CAG calls a violation of budgetary discipline.
Has any other state scheme done this before?
CAG audits across Indian states have repeatedly flagged similar parking of funds in deposit accounts, a recurring weakness in DBT-heavy welfare schemes nationwide. It reflects a structural gap between fast political rollouts and slower treasury planning systems.
Can the legislature claw back the parked funds?
The funds remain govt money and are not lost, but clawback isn't really the issue. CAG's recommendation is forward-looking: link withdrawals to actual need going forward, so ₹15,586 crore-scale idle balances don't recur in future disbursement cycles.
Who beyond beneficiaries feels this mismanagement?
Lakhs of women receiving the ₹1,500/month DBT depend on funds reaching them on time, not sitting idle in VPDAs. Maharashtra's legislature also loses real oversight of ₹33,500 crore in welfare spending when funds move outside approved budget lines.
Who verifies eligibility for the ₹1,500 payout?
Eligible women aged 21-65 apply through the state's DBT portal, with local anganwadi and revenue dept staff verifying documents like income and residency proof, similar to verification processes used in other DBT schemes like PM-KISAN.
Does delayed fund use affect women's monthly
CAG's report doesn't show missed payouts to women; the funds sat in VPDAs rather than being withheld from beneficiaries. The risk is longer-term: fiscal strain from unplanned spending could squeeze future welfare budgets across all of Maharashtra's schemes.
What other schemes compete for this same budget?
Maharashtra's other welfare lines, including farm loan waivers and health schemes, draw from the same state budget. A ₹3,541 crore unexplained overshoot in one scheme creates fiscal pressure that CAG warns limits room for other departments' allocations.
Source: livemint.com