The West Bengal (WB) Cabinet headed by Mamata Banerjee approved 3 Welfare projects for implementation are Lakshmi Bhandar Project, a student credit card initiative, and ‘Duare Ration’ home delivery of ration scheme.
- The schemes will be implemented by Committees headed by Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay.
Lakshmi Bhandar Project
i.It is a Basic Income scheme for Female heads of the state and is expected to benefit around 1.6 crore families.
- Under the scheme, female heads of General Category will be provided a monthly allowance of INR 500, whereas families from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families will receive INR 1000.
ii.The scheme will require around INR 12, 900 Crore every year for implementation.
- West Bengal’s monthly average household expenditure is INR 5, 249.
Student Credit Card initiative
i.To help students receive low-interest loans up to INR 10 Lakh for higher education.
- It has an interest rate of only 4% and also has easy repayment options.
Duare Ration
The scheme ensures Free doorstep delivery of monthly ration to 1.5 crore households.
Alapan Bandyopadhyay gets Extension as Chief Secretary of WB
Alapan Bandyopadhyay was granted extension as Chief Secretary of West Bengal for a period of three months
- Bandyopadhyay is a 1987-batch IAS officer, he was set to superannuate at the end of May 2021.
- He was appointed as Chief Secretary of West Bengal in September, 2020. He succeeded Rajiva Sinha.
Recent Related News:
On February 5, 2021, West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee presented the state’s annual budget worth Rs 2,99,688 crore (net) for FY2022 stating an increase of 17.21% over 2020.
About West Bengal
Chief Minister – Mamata Banerjee
Governor – Jagdeep Dhankhar
Capital – Kolkata
