Cash incentives for women steer Bengal poll discourse

With fewer than seven days remaining before the first phase of polling in West Bengal, not only are political party leaders working hard to capture voters’ attention, but welfare schemes offering cash incentives to women in the State are also playing a significant role.

As the West Bengal election campaign reaches its peak, a contest between the Lakshmir Bhandar of the Trinamool Congress and the Matri Shakti Vandan Yojana of the Bharatiya Janata Party has gained momentum on the sidelines. The Lakshmir Bhandar has been a time-tested model for the Trinamool and its announcement helped the party outperform a resurgent BJP in the 2021 Assembly election. Its implementation was also credited with the party’s 2024 Lok Sabha election win. The number of beneficiaries of the scheme, which provides ₹1,500 per month for women in the General categories and ₹1,700 for women from Scheduled categories, has reached 2.42 crore.