Bengal Budget signals poll-year outreach: Why experts are hardly surprised

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC govt continues to focus on women-centric and welfare schemes, ahead of crucial elections

At a media briefing after the vote-on-account Budget was presented in the Assembly on February 6 (Friday), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee highlighted a telling statistic that shaped her government’s priorities. 

West Bengal, she said, had expanded its social welfare programmes from about 94 schemes to a “century”, with five to six new initiatives added in the latest Budget. “I am very happy,” she said. 

The statement distilled the Budget’s core message: Welfare — long the cornerstone of Banerjee’s political appeal — remains firmly at the centre of both her politics and governance strategy, even more so with elections around the corner. 

The showstopper 

Introduced in 2021, Lakshmir Bhandar — often dismissed by sections of the urban electorate — has grown into one of the government’s flagship schemes. 

As Minister of State for Finance, Chandrima Bhattacharya, said while presenting the vote-on-account, the scheme, which is the chief minister’s brainchild, is immensely popular among women. About 22.1 million women aged 25 to 60 years have benefited from it, and more than 2 million new applications have been received. 

To strengthen the hands of about 24.2 million women of the state, the scheme will carry an additional amount of ₹500 per month from February, Bhattacharya said. 

In a deluge of welfare schemes the Lakshmir Bhandar corners the largest chunk in spend, cumulatively exceeding ₹74,000 crore. An additional annual allocation of ₹15,000 crore has been proposed for 2026-27. 

The last revision in payouts came ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, when monthly support was doubled to ₹1,000 for women in the general category and enhanced to ₹1,200 for SC/ST women, a move widely believed to have yielded electoral dividends. 

The gender calculus 

Political observers say women’s social empowerment, driven by targeted welfare schemes, is emerging as a key force in electoral politics. 

The total allocation for the gender Budget in West Bengal — covering both 100 per cent women-specific schemes and programmes with 30-99 per cent allocations for women’s development and empowerment — stands at about ₹1.25 trillion for 2026-27. Actual expenditure in 2024-25 was ₹96,002.47 crore. 

Allocation for child-specific schemes is ₹62,019.97 crore, with actual expenditure of ₹52,924.86 crore in 2024–25. 

Political analyst Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury pointed out that many women in the country do not enter formal employment, making empowerment crucial. “The success of women-centric schemes may help explain the rise in women voter turnout in the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal.” 

Women voters account for nearly half the electorate nationwide, he added. “It is therefore hardly a surprise that other states have also moved to introduce women-centric schemes.” 

Women’s empowerment is a critically important issue not just in India but globally, argued Dipankar Dasgupta, former professor of economics at the Indian Statistical Institute. 

“Beyond the amount of money being disbursed, recognising women’s capability and contribution sends a powerful signal with profound social implications,” Dasgupta said. 

The pull of welfare politics 

It is not just women. Welfare schemes appear to be resonating with voters across sections. And not without reason. 

Welfare schemes for the indigent and vulnerable are necessary and must move in step with improvements in per capita income, said Ashok Lahiri, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member in the West Bengal Assembly and former Chief Economic Advisor in the Union Ministry of Finance. “We still have miles to go in terms of per capita income.” 

The indigent, he pointed out, seek not only relief for today but a permanent escape from their circumstances. “That is possible only through a balance between projects with long-term gains, such as education, health and infrastructure, backed by effective administration, alongside welfare schemes. You cannot have one without the other.” 

Whether West Bengal has lost that balance, Lahiri said, is for the government and the people to decide. 

Casting a wider welfare net 

The ₹4.06 trillion West Bengal Budget proposed widening the welfare net to include more segments. 

For educated unemployed youth, a new scheme, Banglar Yuba Sathi, has been announced. Under the scheme, youth aged 21 to 40 years will receive a monthly assistance of ₹1,500 until they secure employment or for up to five years, whichever is earlier. 

Landless agricultural labourers will receive an annual support of ₹4,000, disbursed in two instalments of ₹2,000 each during the rabi and kharif seasons. 

The government also proposes to extend social security benefits to gig workers operating in the state. 

For ASHA workers, anganwadi workers and sahayaks, para-teachers, the monthly honorarium will be increased by ₹1,000 from April. A similar increase will apply to civic volunteers, village police, and green police personnel. 

State government employees will see a 4 per cent hike in dearness allowance, along with a promise to transition to the Seventh Pay Commission. 

The business community took note of two key proposals: modernisation of important towns and the creation of new industrial parks for MSMEs. 

But as Basu Ray Chaudhury said the message is clear that this government is for the subaltern. “There is also an effort to reach out to state government employees.” 

So far, Banerjee’s focus has not let her down. In the 2021 Assembly election, the Trinamool Congress secured a landslide victory, winning 213 of the 294 seats in the West Bengal Assembly. Its principal challenger, the BJP bagged 77 seats. 

Which way the wind blows this time will become clear in the months ahead.