Asked how she spends her Lakshmir Bhandar money, Purnima Mahato doesn’t need to think.
“I haven’t got a notebook like you to jot down the details of my expenses, but I can give you a rough account,” the 35-year-old says in her rustic Jhargram dialect.
“Likhhoo (write down),” she instructs this correspondent before revealing her “secret balance sheet”.
Private tuition for her two sons: ₹350.
Stationery for the boys: ₹150.
Chicken (her sons’ favourite dish) twice a month: ₹400.
Personal expenses: ₹150.
“Nowadays, I get ₹1,500; so, I’m saving ₹500 (actually ₹450). I have plans for a short trip,” she says, breaking into a giggle.
Purnima, a high school dropout, lives in Bhangabandh village of the Silda gram panchayat in Binpur Assembly constituency, Jhargram. She is married to marginal farmer Debu Mahato, the sole breadwinner of the family. Their two sons are enrolled in Classes V and VII.
Is she happy with the Lakshmir Bhandar money?
“Before I began getting this money, I had to ask my husband even for ₹10. The additional ₹1,000 a month (that she needs for her sons and herself) was a struggle for him. Now I can help him,” Purnima says.
Latika Mahata, seated beside Purnima on a toto near Silda market, about 190km from Calcutta, agrees. “It (the money) means a lot to us,” the 55-year-old says.
“Earlier, I had to go inside the forest to collect sal leaves, which brought me ₹100 a week. Sometimes I fell ill doing so. Now I can forgo this additional labour.”
Poor and lower-middle-class women across the Jungle Mahal region in Jhargram and Bankura echo this satisfaction with the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, which seems to have built a formidable female vote bank for Mamata Banerjee in the region.
Basant Saren, 40, a tribal woman from Binpur, has been using part of her ₹1,700 (the dole is ₹200 higher for Dalit and tribal women) to repay a loan taken by her self-help group from a local bank.
“Two of our group members passed away, and the remaining eight of us have been bearing their share for the past few months,” Basant, who is accompanied by another member, Sundari Hansda, says.
“We are spending half my Lakshmir Bhandar money to repay the loan.”
Mamata raised the assistance by ₹500 shortly before the poll notification. Earlier, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women received ₹1,200 and the rest, ₹1,000.
By February this year, the scheme had 2.42 crore beneficiaries across Bengal.
“We don’t know how we would have repaid the loan without the ₹1,700 a month,” Sundari says.
Realising how the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme has gained Trinamool the support of women voters, the BJP has promised to provide women with a ₹3,000 monthly assistance if voted to power. The party has not yet named the project but has started distributing “guarantee cards”.
The CPM and the Congress too have been compelled to assure voters during the campaign that Lakshmir Bhandar will not be withdrawn if they come to power.
The big question is whether the women are ready to rely on the BJP’s promised ₹3,000.
Latika Mahata pauses when asked about the BJP’s promise. “BJP workers came and told us about their plan. It will be good if we get ₹3,000,” she says.
“But what if they don’t keep their promise? Will I not lose what I am getting now?”
Muslim women whom this correspondent spoke to in Murshidabad and Malda expressed their trust in Lakshmir Bhandar and Mamata, although many Muslim men aired anti-incumbency sentiments.
However, women who are placed a little higher on the economic ladder and have employable youngsters at home are questioning the dole.
Many Hindu women said they were open to a change of government despite the risk of losing the Lakshmir Bhandar assistance, because they wanted jobs for their children, and even themselves.
“As my husband is doing well in his business, ₹1,500 does not matter to me. But the issues of joblessness and women’s safety do matter. There needs to be a change,” said a woman in Onda, Bankura, declining to be named.
While Trinamool is banking heavily on Lakshmir Bhandar, many party leaders are unsure whether the newly launched Yuva Sathi scheme will have an electoral payoff.
“A large number of youths who applied offline have not received the benefit. They are not happy at all,” a Trinamool leader in Bankura said.
He had cause for concern: two youths in Bankura town lambasted the state government for offering a ₹1,500 unemployment dole instead of jobs.
“There is no opportunity here to get a good job,” said Rajesh Ruidas, a resident of Ward 11, who studied up to Class XII.
“I work as a bank agent and hardly earn ₹10,000 a month in commissions. Is that enough to run a family? I have a three-year-old daughter.”
Rajesh and his friend Swarup Ruidas, who works at a catering agency, had applied for Yuva Sathi but did not receive the dole.
Political analysts believe that while Lakshmir Bhandar remains an effective tool to attract women’s votes, the hurried pre-poll launch of Yuva Sathi may have backfired.
“Most of those who applied have not received the benefit so far,” political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty said.
“Trinamool has not had the opportunity to use the scheme effectively on the ground, as it was announced and implemented in haste. In many places, it is working against the party because the youths want jobs.”
The BJP, unwilling to take chances, has announced a parallel ₹3,000 dole for unemployed youths if it comes to power.
Trinamool leaders said the BJP was “living in a fool’s paradise”, as Mamata’s welfare schemes are not limited to one or two initiatives.
“They don’t realise that with Didi announcing an annual financial aid for landless farmers, most farm labourers are with us along with those benefiting from the Krishak Bandhu scheme,” said Kali Das Mukherjee, Trinamool block president in Malda.
Mamata had announced an annual financial assistance of ₹4,000 for all landless farmers and sharecroppers in this year’s budget.