Trinamool Congress MLA and former IPS officer Humayun Kabir on Friday asked whether Muslim women would be given higher benefits, like those from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes community are, under the State Government’s ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme. He was speaking at the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
“Will Muslim women like Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Caste women be given ₹1,000 in the Lakshmi Bhandar scheme?” Mr. Kabir asked on the floor of the House. The MLA from the Debra Assembly constituency referred to a report by the Pratichi Trust and said that the financial condition of Muslim women in the State was not good.
According to the Trinamool Congress leader, Muslim women told him during the panchayat polls campaign that they were getting ₹500 while Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women were getting ₹1,000.
Lakshmir Bhandar is one of the State’s key cash incentive schemes where every woman is entitled to ₹500 while those from SC/ST are entitled to ₹1,000. The State’s Minister for Women and Child Development Department Sashi Panja said the entitlements under the scheme are not based on religion.
According to a report by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s Pratichi Trust, the socioeconomic condition of Muslims in the State was similar to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. While releasing the report, titled ‘Living Reality of Muslims in West Bengal’, in 2016, Prof Sen had said Muslims “constitute a very large proportion of the poor in the State”.
After the recently concluded panchayat polls, which were marred by violence the MLA had said, “As a Bengali, I hang my head in shame. It is shameful that even in 2023, we could not stop this culture of violence.”
The police officer–turned politician has been a part of the Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
