Eyeing to retain the support of women voters for her party in next year’s Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee’s government will make a number of announcements in its budget scheduled to be placed this month, said sources in the state secretariat.
This will be the final budget of the West Bengal government before the Trinamool Congress concludes its third term next year.
As part of a major decision, the industry-starved government is likely to increase the freebie under Mamata Banerjee’s flagship project, Lakhhir Bhandar, a monthly direct bank transfer scheme for women. Presently, the scheme provides Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200 per month as financial assistance to the general and scheduled caste beneficiaries respectively, who are between the ages of 18 and 60.
“The government has decided to increase the monthly dole. Last year, the annual allotment under this scheme was Rs 12,000 crore and this time it may surpass Rs 15,000 crore,” said the officer. The monthly dole for general caste women was doubled in last year’s budget eyeing the 2024 general elections.
Presently, Bengal has 2.11 crore beneficiaries under the Lakhhir Bhandar scheme who form 27 per cent of the state’s total electorates and 56 per cent of the total women voters who are believed to have largely backed Mamata’s party in the 2024 general elections in order to secure the monthly freebie.
The idea of floating the scheme was adopted before the 2021 Assembly elections following the ruling TMC’s disastrous performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which the BJP gained significant traction in the state by winning 18 of 42 seats.
The scheme proved to be Mamata Banerjee’s trump card in the 2021 Assembly elections, shattering the BJP’s hope of overthrowing the TMC government. She was able to keep the BJP’s number within 77 seats in the House of 294 lawmakers after realising the potential effects of consolidation of female voters during the electoral exercise.
Aiming to further unite women voters, the Bengal government is likely to announce employment generation for at least 50,000 job seekers. Most of the job openings will be in the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS), Anganwadi and nursing sectors where women make up the majority of the workforce, said an officer of the finance department.
The cash-strapped government will hire on a contractual basis. “Considering the government’s financial condition, these positions will not be permanent. Hiring will be done on a contractual basis,” said the officer.
Other than generating employment for women, monthly remuneration for the existing Anganwadi and ICDS workers would also be hiked, said the officer.
“It seems, she will be more focused on women voters before the next year’s Assembly elections. The state government already faced embarrassment over the issues related to women’s safety in the state. One is the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital and the other one was the Sandeshkhali stir highlighting alleged atrocities on women by local TMC leaders,” said a TMC leader.
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