Why West Bengal’s decision of linking social security benefits to SIR is being challenged | Explained

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. West Bengal Cabinet Minister Agnimitra Paul, along with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, presents a cheque to a beneficiary under the Annapurna Yojana 2026, at Nabanna (State Secretariat), in Howrah | Photo Credit: ANI The Supreme Court on Tuesday (June 23, 2026) asked petitioners challenging West Bengal government’s notifications of linking benefits under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and Annapurna Yojana to the outcome of the Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal, to approach the Calcutta High Court. Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, an independent trade union of agricultural labourers, marginal farmers and share-croppers, has approached the Supreme Court to challenge two notifications issued by the newly elected BJP government in West Bengal. On June 4, the West Bengal Food and Supplies Department came out with an order titled ‘Verification and Deletion of Ineligible PDS Beneficiaries Based on the Outcome of Special Intensive Revision (SIR), 2026 of Electoral Rolls conducted in West Bengal’. The order stated that, based on the outcome of SIR, 2026, the department decided to undertake verification and deletion of those PDS beneficiaries who have been found ineligible on account of falling under any of the following categories. The five categories noted in the order included absentee, shifted, dead, duplicate (ASDD) electors in draft list as per the electoral roll published on December 16, 2025, unmapped cases identified during SIR process where concerned individuals were rejected after the hearing process, deletion in the second list after publication of the draft list, deleted after adjudication and electors found to be ASDD during Voter Information Slip (VIS) distribution during Assembly elections, 2026. Not only does the order exclude voters deleted during the SIR, but also those electors found to be ASDD during voter information slip distribution, a process that was conducted after SIR, mostly on the eve of polling. The Food and Supply department’s order also directed the removal of the names of PDS beneficiaries based on booth-wise lists of deleted electors during a 12-day period ending June 15. The PDS is governed under the National Food Security Act, 2013, one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation in the country, providing the right to food for citizens in the country. What the petitioner is challenging before the court is that the benefits of PDS cannot be deprived of a disability being invented through a subsequent executive action and linked with an electoral process like the SIR. The petitioners argue that in the Bihar SIR judgement, while upholding the SIR exercise, the Supreme Court on May 27, 2026, had said that the Election Commission is empowered to undertake a limited enquiry into citizenship for the purpose of satisfying itself as to eligibility for inclusion in the electoral roll. “Such an enquiry does not amount to a determination of citizenship in the strict sense, and any action taken pursuant thereto is confined to electoral consequences alone,” the bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi had said. The order dated June 4, by West Bengal government’s Food and Supplies department clearly seems to extend the ambit of SIR to welfare schemes like PDS. The order relating to Annapurna Yojana was issued by Department of Women & Child Development and Social Welfare of the West Bengal government on May 19, 2026 The order stated that 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, deletion in the 2nd list after publication of draft list, deleted after adjudication, ASDD found during voter slip distribution”. The West Bengal government, in both the orders relating to PDS and Annapurna Yojana, stated that beneficiaries who have filed an appeal before the SIR tribunal under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act shall get benefits till disposal of their applications. The SIR process in West Bengal was conducted between November 4, 2025 and February 2

Why West Bengal’s decision of linking social security benefits to SIR is being challenged | Explained

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Why West Bengal’s decision of linking social security benefits to SIR is being challenged | Explained

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