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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

Demand for action against Mankhurd, Shivaji Nagar, Kurla Scrap and SMS Company. Assurance of action by the Environment Minister in the House on the demand of Abu Asim Azmi

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abu aasim aazmi

Mumbai: Abu Asim Azmi demanded strict action against environmental pollution and illegal soap making in Kurla scrap factory in Mumbai Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Due to air pollution, public life has become unbearable. He told the House that due to pollution from legal Kurla scrap factories and SMS company in Mankhurd Shivani Nagar, the average life expectancy of the residents here has come down to just 39 years. Residents are forced to live amidst dirty, smelly water, air pollution and diseases. Despite this issue being raised in every meeting, the government has not taken any meaningful steps to resolve this issue and no action has been taken. Azmi drew the attention of the minister to this and demanded action as soon as possible, on which during the meeting, Environment Minister Pankaja Munde assured positive action on this serious issue and announced to call a meeting in this regard on Friday. She said that if any illegal activity or factory is going on, action will be taken against it. The local assembly member has also been invited to this meeting.

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra: No Funds For Shaktipeeth Highway Despite CM Devendra Fadnavis’s Push; Finance Dept Skips Provision In ₹57,509 Crore Supplementary Demands

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Mumbai: Despite a clear directive from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Finance Department (FD) has not made provision for the ambitious Shaktipeeth Highway while introducing Rs 57,509 crores supplementary demands in the State Assembly on Monday.

Significantly, the supplementaries, according to government sources, will put an additional Rs 40,000 Cr burden on the state kitty, which is already overburdened with debt of over Rs 9 lakh Cr. The Chief Minister had in a recent meeting on infrastructure projects, asked the Public Works Department (PWD) to set aside Rs 20,000 Cr for the land acquisition of Shaktipeeth Highway, 802 KM greenfield, access control six-lane express highway connecting Nagpur to Patradevi (Dist Sindhudurg) near the Goa border.

The project has been facing stiff opposition from farmers from various districts, which led to altercations with government officials during surveys in the districts of Solapur, Latur, Dharashiv and Parbhani. Despite that, the state cabinet in a recent meeting approved the design and Rs 20,787 Cr for planning and land acquisition for the project. Usually, if total provision is not possible, the Finance Department makes a token provision to indicate that a particular project or plan is very much on the cards, and the provision can be made down the line. But this does not seem to be the case with the Shaktipeeth Highway, which is estimated to cost over Rs 86,000 Cr.

An offical told the FPJ that government will have to ask the state legislature to make the financial provision as approved in the June 24 meeting of the state cabinet. The Finance Department, led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, however, has earmarked approximately Rs 10,000 Cr for the PWD. A majority of the provision will go for the state highways, district roads, the ring road for Pune and a Samruddhi Mahamarg link connecting Jalna to Nanded.

Although Shiv Sena has only four departments under it’s control whereas there are as many as eight departments with the BJP and seven with the NCP, it seems to have cornered a substantial part of the provisions. Urban Development Department, led by Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, tops the list with the provision of Rs 15,465 Cr. The Public Health Department, led by Shinde’s party colleague Prakash Abitkar, will get Rs 6952 Cr.

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Maharashtra

‘Thackerays Are Coming’: Sanjay Raut’s Post On July 5 ‘Marathi Victory Rally’ Sparks Buzz On Shiv Sena UBT-MNS Joint Celebration Event

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Mumbai: Mumbai is set to witness a triumphant celebration on July 5, as the Shiv Sena UBT led by Uddhav Thackeray has announced a ‘Marathi Vijay Melava’ (Victory Rally), following the Maharashtra government’s rollback of both government resolutions (GRs) mandating Hindi as a compulsory third language from Class 1 under the three-language formula.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut shared an image saying, “It’s settled. July 5 – A Victory Rally for Marathi! Thackeray is coming…” He captioned the post, “Jai Maharashtra.” It is speculated that the rally is a joint celebration event along with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray. However, there is no confirmation from both Sena UBT and MNS over the reunion of Thackeray brothers at the rally.

The rally, originally planned as a protest against the imposition of Hindi, will now be held in a celebratory spirit, marking what the opposition parties call a people-powered win for Marathi identity. The Shiv Sena (UBT) had earlier joined hands with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to protest the GRs and both Uddhav and Raj Thackeray were scheduled to participate in a joint protest march on July 5. However, with the government withdrawing the controversial orders on Sunday, the planned protest has now transformed into a victory rally for Marathi pride.

Announcing the change, Uddhav Thackeray stated, “Even though the protest has been called off, a victory rally will still take place. This is not just a rollback of two government decisions, it’s a win for every Marathi-speaking citizen who stood up for their language.”

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had declared the rollback in a press conference, flanked by Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar. He also announced the formation of an expert committee headed by Dr Narendra Jadhav to re-examine the three-language policy after wide consultation with stakeholders. The government maintained that Marathi would remain compulsory and future decisions would be based on the committee’s recommendations.

The Shiv Sena UBT and MNS had strongly opposed the move to impose Hindi from the first grade, calling it an assault on Maharashtra’s linguistic identity. MNS first raised the issue, followed by an aggressive entry by the Thackeray-led Sena. Pressure continued to mount, leading to the state government’s retreat.

Now, instead of protests and slogans, Mumbai is expected to echo with celebration, marking what many see as a rare moment of opposition unity and cultural assertion in Maharashtra.

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