MUMBAI: Hundreds of youths who completed their apprenticeship under the ‘Mukhya Mantri Yuva Karyaprashikshan Yojana’, a scheme launched by Eknath Shinde during his chief ministership and described as the ‘Ladka Bhau’ scheme, on Monday staged a protest outside the Thane district collector office. The reason: like the Anandacha Shidha, Yojanadoot and other schemes that the Mahayuti government put in cold storage after the assembly elections in order to curtail expenditure, this one too has been unceremoniously dumped.
Under the Mukhya Mantri Yuva Karyaprashikshan Yojana, the government gave a stipend of ₹6,000 per month to youths who had passed Class 12, while diploma-holders received ₹8,000 per month and degree-holders got ₹10,000 per month. After completing the training, the youths expected that they would find employment in the job market. However, they are neither getting jobs nor is the government continuing with them as apprentices and paying them.
As a result, hundreds of youths from all over Maharashtra gathered in Thane and staged a protest, demanding that the government either give them jobs or continue with the apprenticeship scheme and stipend. Balaji Patil-Chakurkar, the leader of the agitation, said that despite completing the apprenticeship programme successfully, youths were not getting jobs in the market and would be forced to observe a ‘Black Diwali’. “They feel that Eknath Shinde cheated them by making false promises about this scheme,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve on Monday pointed out that the new Mahayuti government had put many schemes on hold to avoid the expenditure incurred on them. “The Devendra Fadnavis government is cutting down schemes announced by the earlier government under Eknath Shinde,” he said. “However, Shinde has not uttered a single word against this and is, on the contrary, busy praising the bullet train project, which is a pet project of the BJP. This is a cheating government which started these schemes before the assembly elections for votes. We will expose their hypocrisy to the people.”
Danve said that the Mahayuti government’s modus operandi was not straightforward. “It does not officially end a scheme but keeps it in cold storage through various ploys such as not allocating enough money, delaying its implementation and so on,” he said. “We come to know of this from the people, bureaucracy and Mantralaya employees.”
Last week, food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal revealed that Anandacha Shidha, the subsidised festival kits scheme, would not be implemented this year. “Till the assembly elections of 2024, the state government spent a total of ₹2,054 crore to provide Anandacha Shidha kits six times between Diwali 2022 and the Ganpati festival of 2024,” said an official from the food and civil supplies department. “This year, due to a fund shortage the scheme is on hold.”
The education department, however, denied allegations that it was winding up the ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala Sundar Shala’ scheme, one of the several schemes in limbo. “We are in the process of implementing the scheme with a new structure, and ₹86.7 crore has been allocated for it,” said the school education department in a statement. “Soon it will be implemented across the state.”
Amid speculation that the fate of the Ladki Bahin scheme was uncertain after the local body elections, industries minister Uday Samant said that he was not aware about other schemes but Ladki Bahin would continue. “I don’t know about the schemes put on hold since these were decisions taken by CM Fadnavis and deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar in consultation with one another,” he said. “But one thing I can say is that the government will never shut down Ladki Bahin.”
Maharashtra is under financial pressure due to expenditure on populist schemes like Ladki Bahin, spending around ₹3,700 crore a month on the latter. As a result of freebies in 2024-25, the state’s debt has reached ₹8,39,275 crore. Maharashtra budget documents have estimated that it will go up to ₹9.32 lakh crore by March 2026.
BJP media cell chief Navnath Ban, springing to the Mahayuti’s defence, said that the Fadnavis government was known for speedy governance. “Also, recall what Uddhav Thackeray did during his term as CM,” he said. “He put a stay on the Mumbai metro car shed project, Samruddhi Expressway and shut down schemes such as the Marathwada water grid project, Jalyukta Shivar. The MVA government too has shut down schemes.”