A poorly formulated question, poorly interpreted during the Maharashtra Government Flagship e-KYC Process Chief Minister Majhi Ladki Bahin’s scheme has resulted in more than 24 lakh beneficiaries being misclassified as state government employees, resulting in discontinuation of their monthly allowance.
Realizing the mistake, the Women and Child Welfare department directed nearly one lakh Anganwadi workers across the state to physically verify the affected beneficiaries.
“Among the questions, one query was poorly phrased. Instead of simply asking whether any member of the family is a government employee, the question was phrased with two negative words. The question confused the respondents and around 24 lakh responded in the affirmative.
That means at least one member of your family was a government employee. “The monthly payment to these beneficiaries was automatically suspended,” said a senior official of the Women and Child Welfare department.
The official explained that the problematic question in Marathi read: Tumchya Gharatle koni sarkari nokrit nahi na? (“No one in your family works for the government, right?”) Respondents who should have answered no are said to have written yes because of the wording of the question.
The error became apparent when officials reviewed the data. The official said when they saw the data, they realized the mistake as the Maharashtra government has only 8-9 lakh employees, including those in corporations and semi-government bodies. “We also started receiving complaints from different parts of the state for non-payment of the monthly fee,” he said.
On Tuesday night, Women and Child Welfare Minister Aditi Tatkare, in a post on X, announced that Anganwadi workers would carry out physical verification of these respondents.
Story continues below this ad.
The state government had started e-KYC for around 2.30 million beneficiaries as part of a digital verification campaign to ensure that recipients meet the eligibility criteria under the scheme. The deadline to complete the e-KYC was December 31. The state releases around Rs 3,700 crore every month to about 2.25 crore beneficiaries, with each eligible woman receiving Rs 1,500 per month.
The e-KYC exercise was carried out following complaints that male members were receiving benefits under the plan or that some public employees had been registered as beneficiaries.
Launched ahead of the 2024 state assembly elections, the Majhi Ladki Bahin Scheme provides monthly financial assistance to eligible women. While the plan has put significant pressure on state finances, it is generally seen as one of the key factors behind the Mahayuti government’s massive electoral victory.
