Fewer women ask for sops across welfare schemes

Pune: The number of beneficiaries under several women-specific welfare schemes in Maharashtra has declined in 2025-26 compared with the previous year. The economic survey data on programmes implemented by the women and child development (WCD) department shows that the flagship Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana recorded a slight drop in coverage, with beneficiaries falling from 2.47 crore in 2024-25 to 2.38 crore in 2025-26. However, despite the dip in beneficiaries, the scheme continues to receive the highest allocation among all WCD programmes, with expenditure estimated at Rs29,570 crore in 2025-26, compared with Rs32,470 crore in the previous year.
Several other schemes also saw a decline in the number of beneficiaries. Women activists said the state govt seems to have focused only one Ladki Bahin scheme which was pitched more as an election sop and ignored others. "There is no focus to other schemes as the survey shows a rapid decline in beneficiaries,'' said an activist. A beneficiary said: "To get benefits of other schemes, one has to keep doing rounds of offices and there is no system to monitor it. These are schemes more on paper and the actual implementation is few and far between,'' shared a beneficiary. The only scheme to see a rise in beneficiaries was Manodhairya Yojana, where the number increased from 422 in 2024-25 to 2,643 in 2025-26, although expenditure declined from Rs19.48 crore to Rs14.99 crore. WCD officials said efforts are being put to spread awareness about the schemes. Another expert working in the sector said the allocation was lopsided giving importance to just one scheme while all other schemes were ignored.