Mumbai, Aug. 19 -- For farm worker Vaishali Khakare at Sillod in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, formerly Aurangabad, the Ladki Bahin Scheme has changed her standing within her joint family. She uses the Rs.1,500 per month that she gets from the state to send her son for Class 12 coaching. "He is a bright student who passed his Class 10 Board exam with 82% and aspires to study BSc-Agriculture. The Ladki Bahin instalments have not only helped me fund his coaching but also pay the Rs.450 monthly state transport bus pass he needs to reach the coaching class, 14 km away from our village," she says.

Elsewhere in Maharashtra, Priyanka Shinde, a resident of Wadibamni at Dharashiv--previously Osmanabad--leads a women's self-help group that sells org...