The scheme had created a wave of goodwill in the run-up to last year’s assembly polls and reaped rich electoral dividends to the SP, which won 224 seats. It has now been disclosed that money spent on extravagant functions to distribute the dole is more than the money given to the programme’s beneficiaries.

Eye-popping figures: A government official admitted in private that the data was sure to leave the Akhilesh Yadav-led state government red-faced.u00a0File Pic