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Maharashtra

Maharashtra’s Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana: Govt To Require Rs 4.60 Lakh Crore Over 5 Years For Expanded Aid

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Maharashtra's Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana: Govt To Require ₹4.60 Lakh Crore Over 5 Years For Expanded Aid

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government will need Rs 4.60 lakh crore for the next five years to pay a monthly financial assistance of Rs 3,000 up from the present Rs 1,500 to over two crore eligible women under the ambitious Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde Formally Launches ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’ In Pune

These estimates have been made internally by the MahaYuti government after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s formal launching of the Ladki Bahin scheme on Saturday in Pune. He announced that if voted to power after the upcoming Assembly election the government will increase the financial aid to Rs 3,000 per month. He did not stop there but asked the two Deputy Chief Ministers, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar (present finance and planning minister), to work out its matrix.

About The Slew Of Schemes Announced By Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar In The Run-up To The State Assembly Election

In the run-up to the upcoming Assembly election, Dy CM Ajit Pawar during the presentation of the annual budget for 2024-25 announced a slew of welfare and development schemes, including the Ladki Bahin scheme costing nearly Rs 1 lakh crore. He has also made a provision of Rs 46,000 crore for the Ladki Bahin scheme for the year 2024-25.

If the government decides to increase the financial aid to Rs 3,000 per month, the government will have to bear a burden of Rs 92,000 crore annually alone on its implementation for the next five years.

CM Shinde’s announcement and the subsequent state government’s burden need to be seen in the present context of the government’s fiscal deficit, estimated at Rs 1.10 lakh crore, and a revenue deficit of Rs 20,051 crore in 2024-25. Besides, the state’s public debt is expected to surge to Rs a record Rs 7.82 lakh crore in 2024-25 from Rs 7.11 lakh crore in 2023-24.

Claim Made By The Opposition

The opposition has claimed that the state government’s additional outgo will put pressure on state finances and there is every possibility that the fiscal deficit, which is estimated at 2.6 per cent in 2024-25, may cross the 3 per cent limit of Gross State Domestic Product. As per the revised estimates, in 2023-24, the fiscal deficit of the state is expected to be 2.8 per cent of the GSDP. This is higher than the budget estimate (2.5 per cent).

Fiscal deficit is projected to be lowered to 2.3 per cent of GSDP by 2026-27. However, a finance department officer said that the government is making efforts to keep the fiscal deficit within the 3 per cent GSDP limit. He added that the government is quite bullish over proposed estimates of the state’s own tax revenue of Rs 3,35,811 crore in 2024-25. Of this, the state GST is expected to be the largest source with a collection of Rs 1,55,756 crore.

According to the officer, Maharashtra’s GSDP for 2024-25 (at current prices) is projected to be Rs 42,67,771 crore, amounting to a growth of 5.5 per cent over 2023-24 revised estimates.

A MahaYuti Minister strongly defended the CM’s announcement of hiking the monthly financial aid to Rs 3,000 saying that it is the government’s welfare economy.

“The opposition and critics may criticised the expenses on the Ladki Bahin and other schemes but the government is of the view that the payment of financial assistance will increase consumption and thereby the money will come back to the economy. It will further boost the growth,” he argued.

Maharashtra

Mumbai Police equipped with modern laboratories and technology: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

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Mumbai: Mumbai Police has equipped itself with modern technology to curb cyber crime and cyber fraud. Accordingly, Mumbai Police inaugurated three cyber labs including a forensic lab, a special van, an intercept van and other modern equipment at the hands of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Speaking on the occasion, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the police has been modernized to curb cyber fraud and online fraud and the police will use these modern equipment to solve crimes ranging from cyber fraud to other crimes.

Fadnavis said that the way incidents like digital arrests are happening today by fooling people online, the police has brought significant revolution in the investigation methods and other things to curb these incidents. He said that special help rooms have also been set up in police stations to help women, in which women will get immediate help. He said that a special van has also been prepared for women so that they can get immediate help. Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Pansalkar, Special Police Commissioner Devin Bharti, Joint Police Commissioner Satyanarayan Chaudhary and senior officers were present at the event.

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Maharashtra

Bir Mecca Masjid bomb blast implementation of UAPA

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Mumbai: Police has implemented UAPA Act in the Bir Ard Masla Mecca Masjid blast case. On the midnight of March 30, Vijay Agon and Shri Ram Ashok placed a bomb in the mosque and exploded it. This explosion was done with the help of jetliner and detonator. In this case, the police had earlier registered a case under Arms Act and other sections, but after that Muslim organizations had demanded to prosecute the accused under UAPA Act and NSA.
The Beed blast was investigated by the local crime branch, in which the crime branch found that the explosion was very powerful and detonators were also used along with jetliner rods. On this basis, UAPA Act has been implemented on the recommendation of the Crime Branch. Police have registered a case against both the terrorists under sections 16 and 18 of UAPA. Since the Beed blast, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is investigating it along with the police. The ATS is investigating the connection and financing of terrorists in this case, including how jetliner rods were made available to the accused and who provided them jetliner rods without license or permit. Along with this, investigation is also going on to find out how many more people and conspirators are involved in this case. ATS said that investigation is going on every aspect and point of the Beed bomb blast, however, ATS has so far questioned many people in this case, including family members and well-wishers of the accused as well as their friends and acquaintances. ATS is trying to uncover the conspiracy before the blast in the Beed Mecca Masjid blast case because before the blast, accused Vijay Agon had released a video and uploaded it on the status threatening Muslims to remove the mosque and only after that the blast took place here. The local police had also registered a case of spreading religious hatred against the accused a day earlier and the mosque was blown up the next day.

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Crime

Actor Ajaz Khan’s Wife Fallon Guliwala Granted Bail in Drugs Case

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Mumbai: Fallon Guliwala, wife of actor Ajaz Khan, who was arrested in November 2024 after narcotics were recovered from her residence, has been granted bail by a special court in Mumbai.

Guliwala had been in custody for over four months. The court has imposed certain conditions for her bail, including the submission of her passport, a restriction on travel, and mandatory attendance before the investigating officer three times a week until the chargesheet is filed.

Her lawyer, Ayaz Khan, argued that she was unaware of the recovered items and that she was not the only occupant of the premises. He also mentioned that the CCTV system was turned off during the raid, and no videography or photography was conducted.

Special Public Prosecutor Vibhavari Pathak opposed the bail plea, stating that a prima facie case existed against Guliwala.

Considering that the seizure process had already been completed, the court granted bail but with strict conditions.

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