The second cabinet meeting of the new West Bengal government, led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, is scheduled for Monday, 18 May 2025, with state finance and education topping the agenda. The session is expected to produce decisions on two long-pending issues: clearing Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears for state employees and overhauling the undergraduate admission process in state-run colleges and universities.

DA Arrears: A Supreme Court Directive Awaiting Action

At the heart of the finance agenda is the contentious question of paying DA to West Bengal state government employees at par with Central government employees — along with arrears accumulated between 2008 and 2019. The Supreme Court had directed the state to make an upfront payment of 25 per cent of these accrued arrears by 31 March 2026.

According to sources in the state secretariat, the cabinet is likely to deliberate on a concrete mechanism for disbursing that initial 25 per cent tranche. The previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government under former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reportedly sidestepped compliance with the court's directive. Clearing this backlog was also a key commitment in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s pre-election Sankalp Patra.

This comes amid broader pressure on the new administration to signal a clean break from its predecessor's handling of employee welfare. State government workers and their unions have been awaiting resolution for years, making this one of the most politically consequential items on the cabinet's early agenda.

Transparent College Admissions: Ending Political Influence

On the education front, the cabinet is set to discuss a policy framework aimed at making undergraduate admissions in state-run and state-aided colleges and universities strictly merit-based and fully transparent. The move is designed to eliminate the influence of student wings affiliated with political parties — a practice that has drawn sustained criticism across administrations.

Notably, the push for merit-based admissions signals a structural shift in how West Bengal's higher education institutions are governed. Critics have long argued that political patronage in admissions has distorted access and undermined academic quality in the state's public universities.

BSF Meeting and Border Fencing on the Agenda

Following the cabinet session, Chief Minister Adhikari is scheduled to meet senior officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) to review progress on land handover for the erection of barbed-wire fencing along unfenced stretches of the West Bengal–Bangladesh border. The meeting underscores the new government's emphasis on border security as an early priority.

Top Board Rankers to Be Felicitated

Chief Minister Adhikari will also felicitate students who topped the West Bengal Board's secondary and higher secondary examinations, results of which were declared earlier this month. The secondary examination results were announced on 8 May and the higher secondary results on 14 May.

Adhikari had already spoken to Adrit Pal, the higher secondary topper, via a video call at the time of the results. Top performers in the CBSE and ISC examinations from the state will also be recognised at the event.

With its first substantive decisions expected on DA arrears and college admissions, the new Bengal cabinet is setting the tone for what it intends to be a governance-first opening chapter.