Religious stipend to end in West Bengal

The West Bengal government has decided to stop monthly allowances for imams, muezzins and Hindu priests from June.

The decision was taken at the first meeting of the state cabinet on Monday under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, according to a report by Indian media outlet NDTV.

The cabinet reportedly took several major decisions, including ending government financial assistance based on religious classification and cancelling the state’s existing Other Backward Classes list following an order of the Calcutta High Court.

State cabinet member Agnimitra Paul said a special panel would be formed to determine eligibility for reservation benefits.

She said schemes run under the Department of Information and Culture and the Department of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education on the basis of religious classification would remain in force until the end of this month.

The schemes will be discontinued from June, and a separate government notification will be issued in this regard, she added.

The decision is being seen as a major shift in the state government’s policy. The government said welfare schemes should not be based on religious identity.

The earlier Trinamool Congress government introduced monthly allowances for imams, muezzins and temple priests in 2012, a year after coming to power.

At the time, the government announced a monthly allowance of Rs2,500 for registered imams in West Bengal. The scheme was introduced to support economically vulnerable religious leaders.

A similar financial assistance scheme was later introduced for muezzins. The funds for both schemes were distributed through the Minority Welfare Department.

In 2020, the then state government also introduced a similar allowance for Hindu priests. Under the scheme, registered priests initially received around Rs1,000 per month. The allowance was later increased to Rs2,000 before the 2026 assembly election.