West Bengal's Annapurna Yojana Transfers Rs 3,000 to Over 28 Lakh Women

Over 28 lakh women across the state have received Rs 3,000 each under the state’s Annapurna Yojana as the process of direct benefit transfer (DBT) to the beneficiaries’ accounts kicked off on Wednesday.

Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, who officially switched on the benefit transfer at Nabanna, said, “In the last three days, we have received and verified 28,25,769 enrolments. We have transferred Rs 3,000 to the bank accounts of these beneficiaries.”

The CM also announced that once the verification process is complete, other applicants will also get the money.

Both the CM and state minister Agnimitra Paul announced again that those whose names have been struck off during the SIR process will not be entitled to the benefits of the schemes. “Those whose appeals are pending with SIR tribunals or those applying for CAA are not being considered as deleted,” said the CM.

Adhikari also announced that the process of applying for the scheme will be available for the next three months.

“We thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the promises made in the manifesto before the elections have been guaranteed with the help of Amit Shah. Within a short period of time, we have been able to implement the Annapurna Yojana. All those who are eligible will reap the benefits of this scheme. While preparing for rollout of the scheme, we found that lakhs whose names were not on the voter list continued getting benefits under various schemes, like Lakshmir Bhandar. We don’t want the govt money to be credited to non-Indians. Across the state, arrangements have been made at borough and block offices for implementation of the scheme,” the CM said.

Marking the launch of Annapurna Yojana funds transfer on Wednesday, the CM handed over cheques of Rs 3,000 each to five women — Sumitra Ray, Sandhya Bahadur, Sumi Mandi, Rajkumari Devi and Rinku Porel — at Nabanna.

Rajkumari Devi from Pilkhanan said, “I have received money under the new scheme. This scheme will empower many women like me.”

On Monday, the govt rolled out the online application process for Annapurna Yojana, allowing eligible beneficiaries to submit their applications through the state’s social security portal (https://socialsecurity.wb.gov.in/).

The offline form-filling process already began, and around 2 lakh applications submitted offline have been verified.

Under the scheme, applicants are required to fill up a 12-page form seeking detailed information about their household and financial status. The form asks for particulars such as bank account details of family members, the number of family members and children, vaccination status of children, landholding information, and other socio-economic data.