Fifteen years after she became the first Indian to be issued an Aadhaar card, Ranjana Sonawane is unable to access basic government welfare meant for her. []–The 54-year-old resident of Tembhli village in Maharashtra’s Nandurbar district has been locked out of the state’s Ladki Bahin scheme, despite her Aadhaar being linked to a bank account, according to a report by The Times of India.
Government officials insist that the ₹1,500 monthly stipend under the scheme is being deposited, it said. Yet, Sonawane has not seen a rupee. Her family’s repeated visits to banks and local authorities have revealed that the account receiving the funds may not even be in her name — or worse, is a joint account that she cannot control.
Sonawane’s case highlights a disturbing pattern in rural Maharashtra, where technical and bureaucratic glitches in Aadhaar-linked bank accounts are blocking thousands of women from receiving welfare benefits, according to the report. Her situation is particularly ironic: in 2010, she became the face of India’s
— Read more business-standard.com | Abhijeet Kumar | Apr 18 2025