A ₹1,500 unemployment dole and a ₹500 hike in the Lakshmir Bhandar assistance were among pre-election welfare gifts that the Mamata Banerjee government announced as part of its vote-on-account presentation on Thursday.
The benefits also included a ₹1,000 hike for the socially influential Anganwadi and Asha workers apart from civic volunteers and para-teachers, a ₹4,000 annual dole for landless farm workers, and health insurance for gig workers.
The ₹1,500 monthly assistance scheme for the jobless, Banglar Yuba-Sathi, will start from August 15. The beneficiaries are unemployed youths, male or female, who have passed Madhyamik and are aged between 21 and 40 — provided they don’t receive any other welfare cash from the government.
The dole will continue for up to five years. If a beneficiary secures a job before that, the assistance will be withdrawn.
Government sources said the scheme had been planned keeping in mind the frustration among educated youths at the lack of job opportunities in the state.
“They are angry also because of the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of schoolteachers,” a senior bureaucrat said.
“They have lost confidence in the ruling dispensation as major recruitment exams like the SSC are not held regularly. The government has tried to reach out to them through this scheme.”
Landless farm labourers will get their ₹4,000 annual aid in two instalments, starting from April. A database will be prepared for those who earn their livelihood solely by working on others’
farmland.
As for the tens of thousands of gig workers, they will be brought directly under the state government’s Swasthya Sathi health insurance scheme. So far, families could register only under a woman member’s name.
In addition to the new schemes, the state government has enhanced the benefits under several existing schemes.
The most important of these has been the Lakshmir Bhandar, a monthly cash assistance to women aged 25 to 60 — some 2.21 crore of them — that is believed to have helped Mamata ace the 2021 Assembly polls.
The assistance will now be increased by ₹500 a month, which means general-category women will receive ₹1,500, and those from the SC and ST categories will get ₹1,700.
It will be implemented from February itself, the chief minister told reporters after the presentation of the vote-on-account.
The increased honorariums for Anganwadi and Asha Workers, to be implemented from April, came after a section of them agitated against the state government for higher pay.
“Asha workers had brought the city to a standstill a few weeks ago.… The chief minister realised it would be tough for her to face elections if these workers remained dissatisfied with the government,” an official said. “Asha and Anganwadi workers have tremendous influence on the rural populace. The decision to enhance their pay would help the ruling party.”
Mamata said her government had tried its best to help people despite the Centre squeezing funds.
“The Centre owes ₹2 lakh crore to the state. Even in the recent (Union) budget, Bengal has been deprived,” she said.
“Despite such a large-scale deprivation by the Centre and non-payment of funds for (central) schemes like 100-day job, rural housing, rural roads and even Sarva Shiksha Mission... we have tried to do whatever little we could.”
Trying to pre-empt charges that the welfare schemes were pre-poll concessions, Mamata said: “We don’t make any promise because this is an election year, but we roll out schemes that we pledge.… You are witness that we have implemented our pre-poll promises to the best of our ability.”
Earlier in the day, Chandrima Bhattacharya, minister of state (independent charge), finance, had said: “Our government is committed to fulfilling the hopes, desires and dreams of its citizens by successfully implementing policies based on pro-people and inclusive socio-economic planning.”