The Centre’s spending on welfare schemes, particularly the job guarantee programme, could rise with the likely resumption of the scheme in West Bengal.
West Bengal lost nearly Rs 30,000 crore in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) funds between FY23 and FY26 after the Centre halted allocations over alleged misuse of funds.
During this period, states such as Tamil Nadu drew higher allocations, helping keep overall spending under the scheme broadly stable at around Rs 86,000–88,000 crore annually. Before funding was stopped, West Bengal had received around Rs 7,500 crore in FY22.
Funds under the MGNREGS were suspended in March 2022 following reports of 2.5 million fake job cards, alleged misappropriation of funds, and non-compliance with central directives.
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Statutory Overhaul
With West Bengal now expected to resume implementation of the scheme following a change in government, overall spending under MGNREGS is likely to increase, provided states contribute their share.
For FY27, the Centre has earmarked Rs 95,692 crore for the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM-G) scheme. Actual expenditure, however, will depend on states’ contributions, as the government seeks to more strictly enforce the centrally sponsored scheme structure — with a 60:40 Centre-State funding ratio for non-hilly states and 90:10 for north-eastern and hilly states — in line with other major central schemes.
In the recently concluded Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured the mandate to form the government in West Bengal by defeating Trinamool Congress (TMC). At the Centre, the BJP leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
Following the BJP’s victory in Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the youth would get employment opportunities and migration from the state would decline.
Policy Alignment
Given that the local bodies are still controlled by TMC, the job guarantee programme may face obstacles.
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Several central schemes had either not been implemented fully or remained stalled in the state due to corruption allegations and political differences between the Centre and the previous state government. West Bengal had also not implemented the Centre’s health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), which provides annual cashless health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family.
Modi said the Ayushman Bharat scheme would receive approval in the very first Cabinet meeting of the new government.
Similarly, funds are expected to start flowing again under the Jal Jeevan Mission following the recent revamp of the scheme aimed at plugging leakages.
Other central schemes likely to see increased fund flows to West Bengal include the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana–Grameen and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
TOPICSjob growthThis article was first uploaded on May eight, twenty twenty-six, at forty minutes past twelve in the am.