Maharashtra: A litany of unfulfilled promises and brouhaha over free food

All 26.3 million beneficiaries of the Mahayuti’s Ladki Bahin scheme may not benefit from it after all. The list is being reviewed by the ruling coalition that rolled out the pre-poll promise of raising the monthly cash allowance of Rs 1,500 to 2,100 if voted back to power.

Cry foul? Or fair?

It seems more than 2 million beneficiaries are likely to be dropped. Welfare minister Aditi Tatkare announced that those beneficiaries also listed under Namo Shetkari and other direct benefits schemes were dropped to privilege “those who really deserve it”. With women farmers also having to decide whether they want to benefit from Namo Kisan Samman Yojana or not, the number of (dis)affected women is likely to be higher.

Significantly, no such restrictions were imposed when the scheme was rolled out barely three months before the assembly election on 20 November 2024. In fact, district administrators were encouraged not to scrutinise the applications.

Tatkare also disclosed that if the beneficiaries of other cash-transfer schemes are receiving less than what the Ladki Bahin scheme promises, they will only be entitled to the difference. Those receiving a higher cash benefit would be dropped altogether, as would those whose combined annual family income exceeds Rs 2.5 lakh. Not surprisingly, opposition leaders are crying foul. The hasty scheme had only one goal in mind. Now that it’s been achieved, the government is harping about efficiency and plugging loopholes, said Congress state president Nana Patole. The state government had budgeted Rs 46,000 crore to provide a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 to all women in the age group of 21 to 60 years.

Around Rs 200 crore was spent on promoting the scheme. The caution advised by the finance department was pointedly ignored and eligibility criteria were deliberately not disclosed.

Clearly crafted for electoral gain, the Ladki Bahin Yojana should be seen as electoral malpractice, maintains the opposition. Agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate admitted that the scheme has put undue pressure on the state’s finances, which is why the government is unable to announce loan waivers for farmers.

As many as 5.2 million farmers have reportedly not been paid the subsidies that were announced. Official sources confirm that subsidies amounting to Rs 716 crore for 2023–24 have been withheld. If, the minister stated, Maharashtra’s precarious financial condition improves in the next six months, the government would consider the loan waivers. That’s a big if.

Meanwhile, a CAG report has pointed to the state government’s gaping fiscal deficit and mounting public debt. Increasing the amount payable under the Ladki Bahin Yojana was not the only electoral promise made by the Mahayuti coalition. The loan waiver for farmers, under the Kisan Samman Yojana, was supposed to go up from Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000. The poor were to get food security and housing. The old age pension was to be raised from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100. Prices of essential commodities were to be stabilised.

A monthly stipend of Rs 10,000 was to be provided to 1 million students to help ease the burden on their families. As many as 2.5 million new employment opportunities were to be generated. Anganwadi workers were to get a monthly honorarium of Rs 15,000. Electricity bills were to be reduced by 30 per cent. The minimum price for soyabeans was to be Rs 6,000 per quintal. Free rations were to be provided through the Akshaya Anna Yojana. Of this litany of promises, how many will the Fadnavis government fulfil?

Sign of the times

The lingo of leaders is expected to change before and after elections. Even so, the people of Maharashtra are startled by the insulting tone of leaders such as deputy CM Ajit ‘Dada’ Pawar.

Known for his snippy tongue, ‘Dada’ had once responded to a farmers’ complaint about the non-availability of irrigation water by asking if they wanted him to urinate in their fields. Last year, when Maharashtra’s gender ratio was reported to be skewed in favour of boys, Pawar had said women in the state would have to opt for multiple partners like Draupadi in the Mahabharata.

When a villager in Medad complained about not finding work, Pawar reportedly said, “Just because you voted for me, it doesn’t mean you have become my boss and [can] order me around.” The stunned silence that followed was filled by Pawar blaming the people for his wife’s defeat from Baramati in the Lok Sabha election. Ajit Pawar isn’t the only one. Other ruling alliance leaders have been equally offensive in public. Sanjay Gaikwad, the Shiv Sena MLA from Buldhana, said voters were worse than prostitutes. At a meeting convened to felicitate him, Gaikwad accused voters of having sold their votes for liquor, mutton and money. While a section of his audience may have been scandalised, others actually laughed aloud, encouraging the man.

Pawar’s current foul mood can perhaps be attributed to the state’s poor finances— Dada holds the finance portfolio—and the fact that political pressure is building on him to sack his minister Dhananjay Munde, who stands implicated in the killing of Santosh Deshmukh, a sarpanch from Beed. While Pawar has promised justice to Deshmukh’s family, he has been unable to get Munde to resign from the ministry despite all evidence pointing to his henchmen carrying out the murder.

A storm in a cookpot?

Former BJP MP Sujay Vikhe Patil has denounced the practice of distributing free food at the Sai Prasadalaya in Shirdi. It should be stopped forthwith, everyone should pay Rs 25 for the food and the proceeds should be spent on the education of children. “The whole country,” he reportedly said, “is eating here for free, and all the beggars in Maharashtra have gathered here.” Devotees have taken umbrage at being called beggars and have condemned Patil, whose father Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is the state’s water resources minister and MLA from Shirdi for the past 35 years. The minister has not condoned his son’s controversial statement.

Devotees point out that Patil Jr is not involved in the management of Sai Prasadalaya and has made no contributions. While the well-off and VIPs are expected to pay Rs 50 for a meal, the free food is funded by donations. If the organisation is happy to do this, who is he to object, they ask. Does he want those donations to line his own pocket? For over a century, Shirdi has drawn devotees to Sai Baba’s samadhi. Every year, millions visit Shirdi and donate cash, gold, silver and other valuables. In 2022, donations worth over Rs 400 crore were recorded. The Shirdi Mahotsav, held between 25 December 2024 and 2 January 2025 drew a collection of Rs 16.61 crore. Said to be the third-richest temple in the country, its assets are estimated to be worth Rs 20,000 crore.

It seems the Sai Sansthan Trust extends financial assistance to build roads and infrastructure like airports, and donated Rs 51 crore to the state government to fight the coronavirus in 2020.

In 2018, when the then Fadnavis government was facing a financial crisis, the Trust gave an interest-free loan of Rs 500 crore to the government to complete the Neelwande irrigation project, without stipulating any deadline for repayment. Is this a storm in a cookpot? Or is there more to it that meets the ire?