Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Says Ladli Behna Scheme "Heavy Financial Burden"

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has described the state government's flagship Ladli Behna scheme as a "very costly affair", saying he had not realised how heavy the financial burden would be when he became Chief Minister.

"You have no idea the Ladli Behna scheme turned out to be a very costly affair. Little did I know that becoming Chief Minister would bring such a heavy financial burden," Yadav said at a Bundeli Samagam held at Ravindra Bhavan in Bhopal.

The remark came during a light-hearted exchange with Binnu Rani, a Bundeli content creator from Chhatarpur, who asked the Chief Minister what his government planned to do for the Binnus, or daughters, after doing so much for their Jijjis, or sisters.

"Binnu, this is an insider matter. I had no idea that becoming Chief Minister would entail such a heavy financial hit," Yadav replied.

"But we said there is no trouble when it comes to our sisters. The journey began with Rs 1,000. There were significant difficulties in the beginning, but now we are providing up to Rs 1,500. Don't worry. You are currently too young to qualify for Ladli Behna. Grow up a little more, and then we will give it to you," he said.

The comments are significant given the sheer financial size of a scheme that has become one of the BJP government's biggest welfare and political outreach programmes in Madhya Pradesh. At the present monthly assistance of Rs 1,500, the scheme is estimated to cost the state exchequer around Rs 22,680 crore annually.

The Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana was announced by the then Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on January 28, 2023, months before the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election, and formally launched on March 5 that year. The first monthly instalment was transferred in June 2023. Women were initially promised Rs 1,000 a month. The assistance was subsequently increased to Rs 1,250 and then, in November 2025, to Rs 1,500.

The BJP had also promised that the monthly payment would eventually be raised to Rs 3,000 over five years.

But while the amount paid to individual beneficiaries has increased, government data shows that the number of women covered by the scheme has been moving in the opposite direction. More than 6.25 lakh women have dropped out of the beneficiary pool since the scheme was rolled out, while fresh registrations remain closed.

In October 2023, more than 1.31 crore women were covered under the scheme. By January 2026, the number of eligible beneficiaries had declined to around 1.25 crore, and by September 1 it had fallen further.

Women are deleted from the beneficiary list after turning 60, in the event of death, or if they cease to meet other eligibility conditions. But with no corresponding process to add newly eligible women, the beneficiary base has continued to shrink.

The issue has also reached the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. Congress MLA Mahesh Parmar had asked the government when registrations for newly eligible women would reopen. Women and Child Development Minister Nirmala Bhuria replied that no timeframe could be given.

At the scheme's launch, the government had received more than 1.31 crore applications. After scrutiny and objections, over 2.18 lakh names were removed, leaving around 1.29 crore eligible beneficiaries. For the first instalment alone, 1,18,22,623 women received payments. Of them, 1,11,70,835 women were paid Rs 1,000 each, while 6,51,788 women already receiving social security pensions were paid the differential amount. The first transfer cost the government Rs 1,143.15 crore.