While the TMC government in West Bengal spent more than the budgetary allocation for its flagship women-centric direct cash benefit schemes, such as Lakshmir Bhandar, Kanyashree and Rupashree, it substantially reduced spending in several social welfare and educational schemes.
The interim Budget document, presented in the Assembly by Minister of State (Finance) Chandrima Bhattacharya last Thursday, showed increased spending for women and girls-centric direct cash benefit schemes.
For example, in last year’s budget (2025-26), the government has allocated Rs 816.31 crore for the Kanyashree scheme. However, it ended up spending Rs 1058.08 crore, as shown in the revised estimate for 2025-26.
Under the Kanyashree scheme, an annual financial assistance of Rs 1,000 or a one-time grant of Rs 25,000 is given to girls between 13 and 18 years old belonging to the economically backward classes.
For Lakshmir Bhandar, a direct cash transfer scheme for women between 25 and 60 years, the allocation in last year’s budget was Rs 26,700 crore, but it was revised to Rs 28,615.11 crore.
In this year’s interim Budget, the TMC government further hiked the monthly grant to women beneficiaries under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme by another Rs 500.
For Rupashree, under which poor families under financial stress get a one-time grant of Rs 25,000, the allocation was increased from Rs 689.90 crore to Rs 693.76 crore, and for the Widow Pension Scheme, the allocation was increased from Rs 2,101.45 crore to Rs 2,661.12 crore.
On the other hand, the budgetary spending, as reflected in the revised estimate of 2025-26, was reduced for the mid-day meal scheme, pre-matric and post-matric scholarship, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education, Public Health Department, Mass Education Extension and Library Services, School Education, self-help groups, which would affect women too.
The government’s own “Gender and Child Budget” document, published along with the Economic Survey last Thursday, showed that women specific schemes have shown a massive drop in the revised allocation.
For example, for the Housing for Destitute Minority Women under the Destitute Minority Women Rehabilitation Programme, the revised estimate dropped to Rs 19 crore in the 2025-26 financial year from its budgetary allocation of Rs 272 crore.
Similarly, for the mid-day meal scheme, the budgetary allocation in 2025-26 was Rs 819.83 crore. But only Rs 156.22 crore was spent – only 19 percent of the last year’s Budgetary allocation.
In Samagra Shiksha Mission, Rs 1788.3 crore was allocated in last year’s budget proposals. The spending was decreased to Rs 760.4 crore as shown in the revised estimate – a drop of over 50 per cent.
However, in schemes targeting 30-99 per cent women, the cut in the spending was more severe. In the pre and post-matric scholarship programmes under the Backward Classes Welfare Department, the proposed budgetary allocation was around Rs 94 crore. It was decreased to around Rs 18 crore in the revised budgetary allocation.
Similarly, in the Mass Education Extension and Library Services Department, the allocation was revised to Rs 84 crore from Rs 136.80 crore, and in the scheme for the supply of drinking water in rural areas, it was reduced to Rs 1443.63 crore from Rs 5503.58 crore.
In the Child Budget section, there has been a major cut in the spending vis-à-vis the allocation in last year’s budget. While the last year’s budgetary allocation was Rs 1673.12 crore, the spending was a meagre Rs 320.01 crore. In the scheme for the Development of Children in the Sundarban Area, the budgetary allocation was Rs 83.88 crore, but the money spent was Rs 43.88 crore.
A senior official of the state Finance Department said, “The government is spending more than Rs 50,000 crore in different direct cash transfer schemes. Naturally, we had to curtail money from some other projects.”