Social schemes: Bengal gets Rs 1K cr loan from World Bank

Kolkata: The World Bank has sanctioned a loan of Rs 1000 crore to the Bengal government in recognition to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Schemes of 'Social Pension' to the vulnerable groups of the society.

The foresight of Banerjee and her earnest endeavour to identify problems of the weaker sections of the society and redress them has paid huge dividends, according to a senior state government hospital official.

The move will help the state government to support the state's effort to help the poor and vulnerable groups to access social protection services.

According to the World Bank communique, West Bengal runs over 400 programmes which provide social assistance, protection, care services and jobs through an umbrella platform "Joy Bangla", which is the state's unified delivery system with focus on vulnerable groups namely women, elderly, tribal and scheduled caste, people with disabilities and those in the disaster-prone coastal regions.

The "Duare Sarkar" programme has been able to ensure improved and faster identification of beneficiaries, providing service delivery at the doorsteps of the citizens and monitoring benefit delivery will get impetus under this World Bank assisted Social protection scheme.

The loan under the "West Bengal Building State Capability for Inclusive Social Protection" cooperation will strengthen the capability of this state to expand coverage and access to social assistance and targeted service for poor and vulnerable groups of the state.

The loan will further provide impetus to the ongoing efforts of the state government to provide social security to the vulnerable sections of the population in the most efficient and transparent manner.