Annapurna Yojana: First Tranche of Funds Transferred to 1.1 Crore Women Beneficiaries, Says Chief Minister

PTI, July 1, 2026, Kolkata: Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said the first tranche of funds under the Annapurna Yojana, a direct cash transfer scheme for women, was credited to the accounts of nearly 1.1 crore beneficiaries of the state.

Adhikari said that while about 1.6 crore applications were received for the scheme, 26 lakh of them were rejected on grounds of deaths, doubts over citizenship and domicile status, deletion from voter rolls and multiple account-holding beneficiaries. The total number of approved beneficiaries in Bengal whose data have been uploaded on the scheme's portal currently stands at around 1.3 crore, he said, adding that those who are yet to receive the money will have funds transferred by the end of the day.

"The scrutiny and filter were necessary since we cannot transfer taxpayers' money from the government coffers to non-Indians," the Chief Minister said at the official launch of the scheme at Netaji Indoor Stadium, where he handed over certificates to a section of beneficiaries.

"We will not discontinue the existing welfare schemes of the government and will not deprive any eligible applicants of their rights. We will fulfil every guarantee offered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Today, we have moved a step closer in achieving them," he added.

The Annapurna Yojana was introduced by the BJP government to provide a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 to eligible women, replacing the 'Lakshmir Bhandar' programme of the previous TMC regime.

In its budget presented on June 22 for the remaining nine months of the 2026–27 fiscal, the state allocated Rs 36,000 crore for the Annapurna Yojana and declared a slew of other women-centric welfare measures.

The Women, Child Development and Social Welfare Department received the highest allocation of Rs 52,308 crore in the budget, largely on account of the direct cash transfer scheme for women.

"The Annapurna beneficiaries include over 26.5 lakh women belonging to the scheduled caste category, nearly 5 lakh scheduled tribe women and more than 1.2 lakh Gorkha community women in the Darjeeling hills," the CM declared, and said that about 8.15 lakh names were included on the basis of applications made at the Jan Kalyan camps recently organised by the government.

He added that Bangladeshi refugees, who have applied for citizenship under the CAA and those who have moved the SIR-linked tribunals challenging their name deletion from electoral rolls, have also been retained as Annapurna scheme beneficiaries until their applications are disposed of by the respective bodies.

"Out of the nearly two crore beneficiaries of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme of the erstwhile Mamata Banerjee government, some 10 lakh fund recipients were men who have now been removed," the Chief Minister said, justifying the rejection of the large volume of applications.

He referred to the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna to provide financial compensation for wage loss to pregnant and lactating mothers and improved nutrition to mothers and infants, and declared that the state would add Rs 16,000 to the Centre's Rs 5,000 and provide a one-time financial assistance of Rs 21,000 to the vulnerable group.

"Starting August, we will provide five nutritional kits to mothers from state-run hospitals," the CM said.