Inside Mamata’s bag of promises: TMC chief doubles down on welfare amid fiscal strain

The 10 promises are:

• Lakshmi der Joy, Swanirbharata Akshay: A Rs 500 per month hike in the government’s flagship Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, under which financial assistance is provided to women between 25 and 60 years old. Following this, women from the general category will receive Rs 1,500 per month while women from the SC-ST communities will get Rs 1,700 per month.
• Yubader Pashe, Jibikar Aswase: Monthly financial support of Rs 1,500 for unemployed youth under Banglar Yuba-Sathi scheme.
• Budget-e Krishi, Krishaker Hashi: A Rs 30,000 crore agri Budget for continued assistance to farm families, financial assistance to landless farmers and holistic upgradation of the sector.
• Nishchit Basasthan, Chintar Abashan: Ensure that every family has a pucca home.
• Ghore Ghore Nal, Porisruto Paniyo Jal: Mission to provide piped drinking water to every household.
• Suswasthyer Adhikar, Banglar Sobar: Annual “Duare Chikitsa” camps in every block/town for effective doorstep delivery of healthcare facilities.
• Shikshai Sampad, Bhabishyat Nirapad: Holistic infrastructural upgrade of all government schools under Banglar Shikshayatan scheme.
• Purber Banijjyer Kandari, Bangla-i Dishari: Ensuring Bengal becomes the gateway of trade for eastern India, with world-class logistics, ports, trade infrastructure and a state-of-the-art Global Trade Centre.
• Prabeender Pashe, Jotner Aswase: Strive to ensure uninterrupted old-age pension to all existing beneficiaries while gradually extending the pension safety net to all eligible senior citizens.
• Prashasonik Subiday, Notun Diganta Banglay: Establish 7 new districts, expand the number of urban local bodies through a holistic geographical reorganisation.

Listing her government’s achievements, Banerjee said West Bengal was now “one of the foremost engines” of the country’s growth. “We have risen to become the sixth-largest economy in the country, recording double-digit growth. We have lifted 1.72 crore people out of poverty and restored to them the dignity that is every citizen’s birthright. Unemployment has been reduced by 40%, even as we created two crore new employment opportunities across the state,” she said.

“Our party’s USP is direct cash benefit schemes,” said a senior TMC leader. “In the 2021 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, we reaped the benefits of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. This time, we will get the advantage of Yuba Sathi, which has been introduced just before the contest begins; 84 lakh unemployed youth have already registered under the scheme and have started receiving the monthly allowance of Rs 1,500.”

The government’s objective

Welfare politics is one of the tools that the Mamata Banerjee government has effectively deployed to win elections in the past and in the recent Budget, she had announced an increase in allocation for direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar, Kanyasree, and Rupasree. But to fund that, the government had to curtail allocations for the mid-day meal scheme, minority affairs and Madrasa Education, pre-matric and post-matric scholarship, and the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan initiative. Allocations were also slashed for government departments such as Public Health, Mass Education Extension and Library Services, School Education, and self-help groups.

With the allocations announced during the Budget, the state’s social sector spending has risen to 52% of total expenditure, while its outstanding debts have risen to more than Rs 8 lakh crore, prompting the government to finance its expanded schemes with a loan of Rs 1 lakh crore. The Mamata government is required to do a tightrope walk when it comes to funding these poll promises because of the state’s financial situation.

Of the four poll-going states, Bengal has the highest outstanding debts as a share of the state’s GDP. Though the state’s outstanding liabilities came down from 40.9% in 2021-22 to to 37.98% in 2026-27, it remains above the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act target of 20%. West Bengal’s high debt means its annual interest payments are among the highest in the country, as per a CAG analysis, though its internal debt has grown at among the slowest rates in the country over the past decade.

Last year, the TMC government revoked all industrial incentives granted since 1993 by passing the Revocation of West Bengal Incentive Schemes and Obligations in the Nature of Grants And Incentives Bill, 2025. In the Bill, the government said the objective of the Bill was to make “finances available for various social welfare schemes”.