West Bengal finance minister Swapan Dasgupta on Monday announced several new welfare schemes while presenting the full budget for fiscal year (FY) 2026-27 of the state’s first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
He allocated ₹36,000 crore for women’s financial assistance scheme Annapurna Yojna, announced a hike in dearness allowance (DA) of state employees and increased the local area development fund for legislators from ₹70 lakh to ₹1 crore, among other measures.
Dasgupta pledged to fill up vacancies in various government departments and reserve 33% of these jobs for women. He said the DA now stands at 38%, will be effective starting October 1, 2026.
“The BJP government will continue all existing social welfare schemes started by erstwhile governments”, he added.
He also announced the filling up of 20,000 vacancies in the police department, setting up a deep sea port in East Midnapore, a one-time incentive of ₹50,000 for unmarried girls for college education and reducing commercial land use in Darjeeling tea gardens from 30% to 15% to protect the environment.
{{/usCountry}}He also announced the filling up of 20,000 vacancies in the police department, setting up a deep sea port in East Midnapore, a one-time incentive of ₹50,000 for unmarried girls for college education and reducing commercial land use in Darjeeling tea gardens from 30% to 15% to protect the environment.
{{/usCountry}}He also announced that retired journalists will get a monthly pension of ₹5,000 and people who were jailed for political reasons will receive ₹10,000 a month.