Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually addresses the ‘Annapurna Divas’ event as West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, State Cabinet Minister Tapas Roy, MoS Purnima Chakraborty, MoS Malati Rava Roy and others look on, in Kolkata, on September 17, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (September 17, 2026) said that there is no more a culture of cut-money in West Bengal. He made the statement in a virtual address after releasing the fourth instalment of the Annapurna Yojana to women beneficiaries in the State.
“The money is directly transferred in the bank accounts of the women, without any intermediary. Now there is no cut-money in West Bengal,” Mr. Modi said during a virtual address.
Cut-money refers to commission charged by local politicians to help citizens avail benefits of the government schemes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, including PM Modi, had promised to stop this corruption in the election campaign of the Assembly elections in the State which the party won.
Speaking about the BJP government in West Bengal, Mr. Modi said that the government believes in “speaking less and working more”.
The Prime Minister, who was addressing the event on his 76th birthday, also added that no eligible women will be deprived of the benefits of Annapurna Yojana in West Bengal. Mr. Modi released the fourth instalment of the cash transfer scheme of ₹3,000 to around 1.5 crore women beneficiaries in West Bengal.
“Within a few days of forming our government in Bengal, work began on the Annapurna Yojana. Today, many women receive financial assistance directly into their bank accounts…. Our government aims to ensure that not a single eligible woman is deprived of the benefits of Annapurna Yojana,” he said in the virtual address.
Mr. Modi said that the Annapurna Yojana is an important effort to strengthen the confidence of Bengal’s women and added that he believes that the women of the State should have both the power to make decisions and the courage to move forward.
Annapurna Yojana was promised by the BJP during the campaign for the West Bengal Assembly polls. The promise was to counter Trinamool Congress government’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme where over 2.2 crore were getting ₹1500 per month.
After coming to power in May 2026, the BJP government started verification of beneficiaries, something which was criticised by the opposition as a diversion from what the BJP had promised. The Lakshmir Bhandar was a universal scheme, whereas Annapurna Bhandar has an eligibility criterion. There have been some protests with women claiming that they are being denied benefits of the scheme despite being eligible.
The Prime Minister said that the people of Bengal have been deprived of the benefits of many central schemes for a long time. “The BJP is taking forward all the stalled schemes after coming to power,” Mr. Modi said, adding that more than 50 lakh families will be identified and given pucca houses.
“We will all build a new Bengal together,” he added.
Published – September 18, 2026 04:07 am IST
