West Bengal's Annapurna Yojana: How to apply, eligibility, documents, verification explained

The Government of West Bengal notified the ‘Annapurna Yojana’ scheme on May 19 for providing all eligible women residing in the state with an assured monthly financial aid of ₹3,000 per month. The stipulated financial aid will be credited directly to the Aadhaar-linked bank account in the beneficiary's name via the Direct Benefit Transfer, beginning June 1.

Introduced by the Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, the new scheme will take effect from June 1, 2026.

"All the existing beneficiaries of Lakshmir Bhandar Scheme shall be migrated to the Annapurna Yojana except dead, shifted, deleted and absentee electors identified during SIR-2026, deleted in the 2nd list after publication of draft list, deleted after adjudication, ASDD found during voter slip distribution. Beneficiaries who have filed appeal before the SIR Tribunal / applications under Citizenship (Amendment) Act, shall get financial assistance under the New Scheme till disposal of their applications. Likewise, names of dead and shifted beneficiaries will be deleted in future on a regular basis," added the notification.

Alongside, the government informed that for new applicants, an online application facility will be launched in the Annapurna Yojana Portal with effect from 1st June, 2026.

Under the new scheme, women in the age group of 25-60 years, who are not in government jobs and who do not pay taxes, will be eligible for this monthly aid.

For applying to the scheme, applicants need to furnish the following documents, including, aadhaar card, voter ID, proof of residence, bank account statement/ passbook and passport-size photograph.

The Annapurna Bhandar Application form is available on the scheme’s portal or on Nabanna from 27 May 2026. Here below are the steps to download the form:

Step 2: Click on the ‘Download Annapurna Yojana Form’ button. You can download the form in the language of your choice ( available languages: English, Bengali or Hindi).

Step 3: Fill out all the necessary details in the form and submit it to the local block, municipal or Panchayat office

Offline

For offline submission, you can approach either your local block, municipal or Panchayat office. Also, the government is said to set up a “Janakalyan Shibir” across the state from June 15 to 17, where applicants can submit their Annapurna Yojana application forms.

The details needed to be filled up in the form include, family identity, ration card or food subsidy details, assets, profession or income, identity documents, social status as well as details of dependants, benefits received under other government schemes, signature together with the consent.

For verification of the applicants, the government officials authorized for the purpose will carry out the enquiry. After verification/ enquiry, the Block Development Officers (BDOs) in rural areas and the Sub-Divisional Officers (SDOs) in urban areas will recommend the list of eligible applicants online to the District Magistrate for sanction.

In areas within the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, this process will be completed by the officers of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The enquiry report of sanctioned cases will be uploaded at the Annapurna Yojana portal.

In districts, concerned District Magistrates shall act as sanctioning authorities, whereas in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area- the commissioner- KMC willl act as the sanctioning authority in KMC area.