Annapurna Yojana New Eligibility Rules: Check Who Will Get Rs. 3,000 August Instalment; All You Need To Know

West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari has asked some Annapurna Yojana beneficiaries to "voluntarily forgo" it before the recent disbursement of the next payment.

Adhikari has mainly requested wealthy citizens to voluntarily forgo their Annapurna benefits, saying this would help more women in genuine need receive the financial support.

Annapurna Yojana which is also called Annapurna Bhandar is West Bengal's major women's monthly cash-assistance scheme which was launched by CM Suvendu Adhikari's BJP government on 1st June 2026, replacing the earlier Lakshmir Bhandar scheme which was run by the previous Mamata Banerjee government.

The annapurna yojana pays a flat Rs. 3,000 per month to eligible women, regardless of caste or category, via Direct Benefit Transfer to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

New Update on Annapurna Yojna

Under a "mega revision" of guidelines, women earning over Rs. 10,000/month, or owning more than 50 decimals of land in the seven municipal corporation areas of West Bengal, are being excluded from the scheme.

The same exemption applies to women and families living in three-room houses in rural areas, as per Adhikari's press conference at Nabanna.
From August 17, only women whose details have been verified are getting the amount credited to their accounts.

However, eligibility has also been expanded in places women receiving Divyang pension or covered under PM-KISAN can now also qualify, and housing restrictions for rural applicants and land-holding limits in towns have been relaxed.

So far 1.45 crore eligible women are getting Rs. 3,000 each; Adhikari said 1.8 crore applications came in between June and July 31.
August payments are going out between August 17-20, with priority being given to women who applied by July 10.

On the first payout which went out on 3rd June this year, about 28.2 lac women received the money when Adhikari formally inaugurated the scheme at Nabanna; about 30 lakh names were removed during verification for reasons like being deceased, shifted, or absentee.

New Greviance Portal To be Launched

The government is launching a new grievance/verification portal around August 20 for people who didn't get paid or want to flag ineligible beneficiaries, with Mahila Morcha leaders handling local tech support queries.