 "nirmala sitharaman interim budget PC")
The Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, on Tuesday alleged that the Trinamool Congress government was depriving the poor from the benefits of central schemes for politics.
Speaking at an event ‘Viksit Bharat and Eastern India’, Sitharaman said, “Politics has an end to itself; somewhere you have to draw the line.”
“There are schemes that the poorest of poor need. Rs 5 lakh worth of health benefits can be availed under Ayushman Bharat, but West Bengal hasn’t implemented it here.”
The politics of denying these benefits to the people of Bengal is a disservice done to them, the finance minister added.
At the same time, she pointed out Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on February 25, dedicated five All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to the nation, and one of them was in Kalyani (West Bengal). “Politics hasn’t stopped PM Modi from serving the people of Bengal.”
Also Read
In infrastructure too, the finance minister said that West Bengal has been a major beneficiary.
In the interim budget speech, the finance minister had said that the government would pay utmost attention to make the eastern region and its people a power driver of India’s growth. Pointing to it, Sitharaman said, that is the kind of emphasis that is being placed on the eastern states.
Sitharaman said that some of the best-developed states had blocks or districts that had not been adequately developed. And therefore, a list of 112 aspirational districts had been drawn up across the country.
“More than one-third of them are in Odisha, Jharkhand, and Bihar. No response was received from West Bengal on which could have been classified as aspirational. As a result, the progress which is being made at the district level has not reached Bengal.”
She also said that work was not progressing well on One District One Product.
“West Bengal has the slowest progress in providing tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The national average is 74 per cent, but in water-rich West Bengal, it is just 43 per cent.”
On the raging issue of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Sitharaman said, 25 lakh fake MGNREGA job cards were issued in West Bengal. And that’s why MGNREGA funds to West Bengal had to be halted due to corruption because it is taxpayers’ money. Works not permissible under MGNREGA had been taken up in the state.
The Trinamool Congress, it may be mentioned, had been protesting on MGNREGA dues.
Finance Minister Sitharaman said that under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the West Bengal government deprived eligible families of houses, and ineligible families were allowed to build mansions.
She cited data and instances to show the state of economic decline in West Bengal. “In 1947 when India attained independence, West Bengal’s share in the country's total industrial production was 24 per cent. By 2021, it had declined to 3.5 per cent.”
Pointing to the downward trend in gross capital formation, Sitharaman said, in 2010, West Bengal accounted for 6.7 per cent of capital formation in India. Now, it’s only 2.9 per cent. The state had taken no steps to reverse this, she said.
The annual per capita income growth in West Bengal, she said, has been lower than the national average in the last two decades.
Many industry leaders have gone out of the state, she said. The factors driving the industry out are power shortage, poor law and order situation, and uncontrolled trade unionism.
Bengal, she said, stood out in culture, music, and knowledge. The only parameter in which it stands out today is ‘tolabazi’, Sitharaman said.
She also said that till 2010, West Bengal was a net recipient of migrant labourers. “But from 2010 onwards, 1.1 million workers have migrated out of Bengal. It has both high-end human resources and the bottom rung migrating.”
