The BJP government on Monday made it clear in its first budget that the welfare schemes would not be free-flowing, like during the previous regime, and those belonging to the financially weaker sections could get the benefits.
“I would like to announce that all existing social protection schemes in the state will continue since we are deeply committed to building human capital. The schemes will, however, be appropriately modified to ensure that the benefits of the government schemes reach the people who belong to the most vulnerable sections of society,” said Swapan Dasgupta, the finance minister, in his budget speech on Monday.
A section of officials said the government was likely to take a call on the eligibility of the beneficiaries of the welfare schemes soon.
“In all likelihood, the welfare schemes could be made available for the economically weaker section of society. The sole criterion for beneficiaries could be the family income. The monthly income of the family of beneficiaries could be between ₹8,000 and ₹15,000 a month. A final call would be taken by the government soon,” said
a source.
The officials said the government’s intention was hinted at in the allocation for the Annapurna Yojana.
“The government has allocated ₹36,000 crore to run the Annapurna Yojana in the ongoing financial year. This gives a clear hint that the number of beneficiaries would be cut down severely while it would be rolled out completely in the next two months,” said a bureaucrat.
The Lakshmir Bhandar scheme run by the previous government had 2.21 crore beneficiaries. The Suvendu Adhikari government launched a 12-page form to apply for the scheme, saying the list contained the names of several fake and ineligible beneficiaries.
The chief minister had said 30 lakh ineligible people were getting benefits under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
If ineligible beneficiaries’ names are deleted from the list, there could be nearly two lakh beneficiaries under the Annapurna Yojana, given that there is no major condition to avail the benefit like the previous government’s scheme.
“In that case, the state would have to cough up ₹72,000 crore annually to run the scheme as each of the beneficiaries would get ₹3,000 a month. As the state allocated only ₹36,000 crore, it is clear that the number of beneficiaries would be cut down in the new scheme,” said a senior state government official.
The officials said the decision to fix a criterion for the welfare schemes was
important.
“Those who need the support should get the benefits. It is not justified to give benefits to those who are not dependent on the support. The previous government used to spend about ₹53,000 crore under various welfare schemes. The new government has allocated ₹63,000 crore to run social welfare schemes. If there are no criteria, the outgo will have crossed ₹1 lakh crore, which is not desirable for a struggling state exchequer,” said an official.
Another official said that assisting all applicants under a welfare scheme was actually misappropriation of funds.
“For example, the previous government used to give cheap grain to two crore people by spending nearly ₹4,000 crore annually, while the actually vulnerable — 6.01 crore people — get cheap grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Now, if the new government discontinues the scheme for an additional two crore people, it would not cause harm to anybody as the actual needy are already covered under the NFSA,” the official said.