West Bengal Cabinet Approves Key Welfare and Administrative Measures

PTI, May 11, 2026, Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday announced a series of significant administrative and policy measures, including the state’s induction into the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat health scheme, transfer of land to the BSF for border fencing, and implementation of the BNS criminal law.

The decisions were taken during the first cabinet meeting of the BJP government in West Bengal, chaired by Adhikari and attended by the five ministers who had taken the oath of office, along with senior bureaucrats.

West Bengal would now become part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, alongside multiple other central welfare projects like PM Jan Arogya Yojna, PM Fasal Bima Yojna offering crop insurance for farmers, PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme for upgrading state-run schools, and the PM Vishwakarma scheme supporting artisans and craftspeople, the Chief Minister told a press conference.

The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme for women’s education and empowerment, and the Ujjwala 3.0 scheme for subsidised cooking gas connections, would also be implemented in the state.

All these schemes had allegedly been kept out of bounds for the state’s people owing to political considerations under the previous Mamata Banerjee regime.

“We are now part of Ayushman Bharat, as per the Prime Minister’s commitment he made during poll campaigns. The cabinet has asked the State Chief Secretary, the CM’s secretary and Health Secretary to oversee the drawing up of necessary agreements with the Union Health Ministry for immediate implementation of the Ayushman Bharat scheme,” Adhikari said.

The Ayushman Bharat and PM Jan Arogya Yojna aim to provide cashless hospitalisation coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year to poor and vulnerable households for secondary and tertiary healthcare services.

The Trinamool Congress government had instead launched its own Swasthya Sathi scheme for a similar cash insurance limit in public healthcare.

Adhikari confirmed that the new government would not discontinue any existing state schemes.

“We will, however, identify and remove those who are undeserving, like the dead and non-Indians, from receiving welfare support that is meant for the people of this country,” the Chief Minister said.

Implementing promises made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to seal the country’s porous borders with Bangladesh to curb illegal cross-border migration, the Adhikari cabinet, in its very first meeting, approved beginning the process of transferring land to the BSF for setting up border fences.

“The transfer process will begin immediately, and the cabinet has empowered the Chief Secretary and the Secretary of the State’s Land and Land Revenue Department to complete the process within the next 45 days,” Adhikari said.

The Chief Minister said that, as per the knowledge he acquired during his previous tenure as the Leader of Opposition, some 90 per cent of the land required to complete the border fencing exercise was already under state acquisition.

“As Chief Minister, I will have to go through the papers to figure out the exact status of the land required and for which I will need some more time,” he added.

West Bengal shares a 2,216.7 km border with Bangladesh, of which about 569 km remains unfenced, officials said.

In a significant allegation, Adhikari said that while the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) — criminal laws which replaced the IPC and CrPC Acts respectively — were long passed by both Houses of Parliament, received the President’s assent and for which rules had already been framed, and had been implemented elsewhere in India, the Acts were officially yet to be promulgated in Bengal.

“We were surprised to know about this violation of the Constitution. The cabinet has cleared their implementation in Bengal with immediate effect,” said Adhikari.

In yet another fulfilment of pre-poll promises made by Shah, Adhikari announced relaxation in the upper age limit for candidates appearing in government job examinations by five years.

The announcement would now allow applicants in the general category relaxation till 45 years from the current age cap of 40, and those in the SC, ST and OBC categories to apply for jobs till 48 years of age from the current limit of 43, officials said.

The issue was a long-standing demand of prospective teachers who lost precious years for job applications after the Supreme Court cancelled the entire state School Service Commission 2016 recruitment panel last year on grounds of corruption and irregular appointments.

“The previous government held no recruitment in government positions since 2015. As promised earlier by our Home Minister, the cabinet has approved the increase of the upper age limit for government recruitment examinations by five years,” the CM said.

Adhikari further alleged that the previous Mamata Banerjee dispensation had ignored a circular, dated June 16, 2025, from the Office of the Registrar General of India under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, intimating about the impending Census exercise in the state.

“The Trinamool government had betrayed not just the people of Bengal, but also the Constitution by deliberately keeping the Census exercise on hold in Bengal so that the women’s reservation bill could be stopped in Parliament. The cabinet has granted immediate sanction for the circular to take effect in the state,” Adhikari said.