IN presenting the budget for the year 2001-2002, state finance minister, Prof Asim Dasgupta clearly sets out to rationalise the growth potential of the Bengal economy. The limited deficit (of Rs.8 crore) budget is built around the task of enhancing employment and augmenting the social infrastructure. Adequate emphasis is given towards ensuring a calculated rise of the rate of growth of the state domestic product or SDP.

The total plan expenditure rises from Rs.5768 crore in year 2000-2001 to Rs.7111 crore in the current financial year. This reflects a growth of 23%.

The revenue deficit has been brought down from Rs.7411 crore in 2000-2001 to stand at Rs.6748 crore in the current financial year.

Prof Dasgupta declared at the outset amidst rounds of appreciative table thumping from Left Front legislators, how he expected the budget to increase the rate of growth from current seven to eight percent per annum.

The finance minister also iterated that with the creation of additional employment potential for more than six lakhs of people, the numbers of those still remaining below the poverty line would decrease from 26% to less than 22%.

The budget adopts a wide array of measures to strengthen the rural base of the Bengal economy. A minimum of ten thousand acres of agricultural land would be made to vest in the government for redistribution among the rural poor. Agricultural production shall be diversified. Additional emphasis would be given to production of vegetables, flowers, and fruits. Plans have been drawn up to lay down guidelines to pattern of cropping and appropriate land use.

Each Panchayat area shall have "service cooperatives" that would provide help to the rural poor, especially the small and marginal farmers, in properly realizing the growth potential of the loan components.

The present allocation of Rs.494 crore for extension of irrigation, and tackling the burgeoning problem of riverbank erosion would be increased to stand at Rs.695 crore. The plan allocation for increasing fish production has been increased from Rs.134 crore to Rs.148 crore.

Different marketing cooperatives have been proposed in the budget to be set up in the villages to suitably help the farmers to sell the entire array of their produce without incurring any additional losses due to lack of marketing infrastructure.

In bid to augment the public distribution system or PDS, Prof Asim Dasgupta said that the government would ensure that those living below the poverty line would get access to articles of common consumption at a rate below that fixed in the PDS.

The present incentive schemes in the realm of industry as such will be further expanded and a fund of Rs.20 crore has been set up to provide additional incentives to the small entrepreneur.

Units providing 200 or more jobs will get an additional incentive of 10% subsidy and full exemption of stamp and registration duties.

The plan allocation for industrial schemes in general has been concurrently increased from Rs.322 crore to Rs.386 crore. A technological park will be set up at a cost of Rs.20 crore.

The "Bengal Incentive Scheme," an ongoing programme has been extended to the rural areas as well and a project size of Rs.10 lakh has been set.

The number of self-help groups in the different cooperatives for women living below the poverty line has been increased from 10,000 to 30,000.

An additional allocation of Rs.539 crore has been made in the power sector to speed up rural electrification and to make at least 85% of the rural mouzas (blocks) equipped with grid-supplied power by the end of the current financial year.

To further augment the ongoing schemes for supply of potable water all over Bengal, the budget proposes an increase of allocation from Rs.140 crore to Rs.209 core. Public health and engineering will have an allocation of Rs.427 crore (an increase of Rs.370 crore over that for year 2000-2001).

Transport sector has had an increase of Rs.432 crore for the same period. 500 new buses will be purchased equipped and utilized as government-run public transport.

The budget proposes to set up 4000 additional child education centers in the coming year. Each secondary and higher secondary institutions in the state will be equipped with facilities for imparting vocational education and training.

There would be additional resources mobilized in the schools, colleges and universities through a rationalization of the fees structure. Poor and meritorious students will, as usual, be exempt from the new regimen of tuition charges.

Agricultural income tax has been reduced from 50% to 45%. Other reductions include wounding down of sales tax rates in: vanaspati oil (-1%), all chemicals produced in small engineering units (-1%), computer and peripherals (-1%), dry cells (-1%), finished jute goods (-1.5%), and hand-made (as against machine-made) soap and toiletries (-3%).

Sales tax is also reduced in raw and Mesta jute, linoleum, and in tea, which shall also benefit from a small (-1%) cut in the agricultural income tax.

Biotech units, jute diversification, farm implements, tourism and hosiery would get 10% interest subsidy for two years and complete exemption of stamp and registration duties.

Entertainment tax is reduced by a further five per cent for films in Bengal and Nepali.

On the other hand a luxury tax of 20% has been imposed on imported items including cosmetics, chocolate, confectioneries, crockery, wine and spirits, electric and electronic toys, footwear, umbrellas, cycles and motorcycles, motorcars, soap, and silken threads.

Indian-made foreign liquor will face an added tax of 10%.

Professional tax has been increased to stand at Rs.150 per month for those earning Rs.25,000 and more while those earning Rs.40,000 or more per month shall have to pay the professional tax at the rate of Rs.200 per month.

Addressing the media following presentation of the budget, Prof Dasgupta said that the budgetary proposals "have been formulated by the Left Front government so as to try and put out the very best efforts in living unto the additional responsibility that the electoral victory has put on the government."

He also expressed the hope that the budgetary proposals "will prove a step in the right direction as far as coordinated and pro-people development of the state economy is concerned amidst the dysfunctional chaos that marks the national economic scenario."