TMC govt. hikes monthly aid for women, unveils scheme for unemployed

TMC increases women's aid and launches unemployment scheme ahead of West Bengal elections, drawing criticism from the BJP.

With an eye on the upcoming Assembly election in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government on Thursday presented its interim budget, focusing on women and unemployed youth.

The government has hiked the monthly grant for women under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme by ₹500 and introduced a new scheme, ‘Banglar Yuba Sathi’, to extend unemployment aid of ₹1,500 to youth in the 21 to 40 age group.

It also increased the salaries of civic and village police personnel, para teachers, and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and anganwadi workers.

Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya tabled a ₹4.06-lakh-crore interim budget for the financial year 2026-27. Despite the higher spending, the State has projected that the revenue deficit will narrow to ₹21,759.34 crore in 2026-27 from the revised ₹41,164.05 crore in the current fiscal.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told journalists that Lakshmir Bhandar – one of the government’s flagship schemes that provides monthly assistance of ₹1,000 and ₹1,200 to women in the general and reserved categories respectively – will benefit from additional allocation of ₹1,500 crore. Both categories will get a hike of ₹500.

The government will add 20.62 lakh women under the scheme, which has 2.21 crore members currently, the budget document stated. The hiked allowance will be available from February, Ms. Banerjee said.