Lake Ladki applicants can now apply online directly on MahaDBT 2.0 portal, says Aditi Tatkare

Applicants for the Lek Ladki scheme can now apply online directly on the MahaDBT 2.0 portal. Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare gave the information. She said the entire process, from submitting an application to checking where it currently stands, has now been made online. The number of documents to be submitted with the application has also been reduced.

The earlier procedure is worth recalling. Until now, applicants had to go to the nearest anganwadi centre and submit the application. The applications were then compiled at the project level and entered on the portal in use at the time. They were subsequently scrutinised and the approval process completed. Visiting an anganwadi centre in person to submit the application was mandatory.

Instructions have now been issued to bring uniformity to the government's various schemes. In line with those instructions, the process for the Lek Ladki scheme has been improved. A new Government Process Re-engineering, or GPR, has been prepared for this. Under it, applicants have been given the facility to apply online themselves. Uniformity has been brought to all the stages: registration of the application, scrutiny, approval of the application and approval of the benefit. The number of documents applicants must submit has also come down.

The new system will particularly benefit beneficiaries in areas where anganwadi centres are not functioning. The difficulties such beneficiaries faced in submitting applications will now be removed. Residents in any part of the state can now apply online for the scheme. Applicants can also check online the current status of the application they have filed.

It had already been decided that the benefit amount under the Lek Ladki scheme would be credited to beneficiaries' accounts through Direct Benefit Transfer, or DBT. With the application process now also online, an important stage in the implementation of the scheme has been completed. The number of beneficiaries who have received the first benefit under the scheme so far is 2,98,695.