Kolkata: The West Bengal government, led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, has decided to discontinue all state welfare schemes categorised by religion from June. This includes programmes currently managed by the Minority Affairs and Madrasa Education departments.
Following a cabinet meeting at Nabanna on Monday, the administration resolved that religion-linked welfare initiatives introduced under Mamata Banerjee’s previous All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government will only run until the end of May. Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Minister Agnimitra Paul confirmed that all assistance programmes under the departments of Information and Cultural Affairs, Minority Affairs, and Madrasa Education relying on religious categorisation will be shut down.
In a concurrent move, the government has scrapped the existing state-level Other Backward Classes (OBC) list, aligning with a Calcutta High Court judgment. A new panel will be constituted to determine future OBC-quota eligibility. This follows the new administration's decision to withdraw a petition, originally filed by the previous TMC government, which had challenged the High Court's stay on the updated OBC list.
Last year, a Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice of India had vacated the High Court’s stay on a revised OBC list. That revised list included 140 sub-groups under OBC-A and OBC-B, including 80 Muslim groups. The earlier list struck down by the High Court had contained 113 OBC sub-groups, 77 of which were from the Muslim community.
Minister Paul also announced that women applying for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), as well as those approaching tribunals for inclusion in voter rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, will be eligible for benefits under a new scheme called "Annapurna". Under this initiative, eligible women will receive ₹3,000 per month starting 1 June—more than double the ₹1,500 provided under the previous government’s "Lakshmir Bhandar" programme. The cabinet also approved free travel for women on state-run buses from next month. Both the Annapurna scheme and free bus travel were key campaign promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the recent assembly elections.
Additionally, the cabinet approved the formation of the 7th State Pay Commission for government employees, workers in statutory civic bodies, education boards, and staff in state-run educational institutions. When questioned about dearness allowance (DA), Paul stated the issue was not on Monday's agenda and would be discussed separately at a later date.
Political observers note that the new administration has introduced several measures since coming to power that critics argue disproportionately affect the Muslim community. These include tighter restrictions on animal slaughter ahead of Eid al-Adha and a crackdown on public prayers held on roads.