WEST BENGAL

LF Govt Budget Emphasises Generation Of Employment

B Prasant

THE Bengal budget for the financial year 2006-2007 lays adequate emphasis on the generation of additional employment in the state.  It also aims at enhancing the levels of income of the people. It comes in the wake of the vote-on-account budget placed earlier in the year.

Finance minister of the seventh Left Front government, Dr Asim Dasgupta placed the budget before the Bengal assembly.

The budget speaks of increasing further agricultural and industrial production and points to the importance of expansion of services as employment-linked.

To this end, the budget drives the engine of growth along the twin path of enhancement of the physical infrastructure (i.e., irrigation, power, communications, etc) as well as of the social infrastructure (i.e., education, health, etc)

The special drive for employment generation is linked to the objective of bringing more and more of the people up and away from the realm of poverty and economic distress.

The budget identifies the income as Rs 42,669 crore. Expenditure has been pegged at Rs 42,720 crore. Additional resources to the tune of Rs 46 crore will be mobilised, according to the budget proposals.

Revenue resources will be mobilised at a rate that is an increase of 18 per cent over the last financial year.  Non-plan expenditure will be cut by 9 per cent.  Plan budget is increased by 24.5 per cent.  The projected rate of growth of the state domestic product will be 8.5 per cent.

Taxes will be increased on foreign liquor, foreign cigars and cigarette.  Lac and shellac will be made taxable commodities.

Taxation regulations have been simplified.  The purview of luxury tax has been increased. Taxes have been reduced on bed sheets, bed spreads.  Pillow cases, towels, handkerchiefs, oil cakes, ghee, wood, atta, alluric acid (an industrial input) would have lesser levels of tax levied; stamp duty has been reduced.

Budgetary allocations have been increased in agriculture and horticulture (to Rs 84 crore), water resources (to Rs 100 crore), pisciculture (to Rs 44.32 crore), animal resources development (to Rs 20.88), education (to Rs 826 crore), and sports (Rs 19.38 crore).

The budgetary allocation for minority development and for refugee rehabilitation has been increased. Substantial increase has already been made in the vote-on-account budget for health, power, and industry.

Loan components under NABARD have been substantially increased in such sectors as minor irrigation, forestry, agricultural infrastructure, and marketing, running of panchayats, etc.

A few of the targets fixed in the budgetary proposals are as follows:

 o                   An additional 30 thousand acre of land would be distributed among the kisans

 o                   Health insurance and training programme for workers of closed factories

  o                   Two lakh additional unorganised workers would brought into the purview of PF

 o                   25 new bridges and flyovers will be constructed

 o                   All the Junior Madrasahs will be converted into High Madrasahs, and 100 High Madrasahs will be upgraded to Higher Secondary standards

  o                   The monthly honorarium of all sahayikas and samprasarak/samprasarika of the child education centres raised by Rs 500

  o                   1000 vocational training centres will be set up

 o                   Special grant of Rs 15 would be made for the colleges which are successful in raising the standard of education with a similar grant at the school level under the same criterion

o                   An additional coverage to the tune of 50 per cent has been proposed for old-age pension, widow pension, disability pension, artisans’ pension, handloom weavers’ pension, farmers’ pension, and fishermen’s pension

Briefing the media later, Dr Asim Dasgupta said that the Bengal Left Front government was able to increase by 118 per cent its ability to mobilise resources between 1999-2000 and 2005-2006.

Dr Dasgupta pointed out that the alternative model on which the Bengal budget, over the years, grew aimed at employment generation, increase of income, and poverty alleviation.

Generation of employment for at least seven lakh of people has been fixed for the current financial year.  The plan expenditure has been increased by 24.7 per cent.

The Left Front government of Bengal, pointed out the finance minister, also worked towards setting up a move for equal competition, by lessening the monopolistic powers of the market, and decentralisation and participation of the common people in the government.

Dr Dasgupta concluded to say that despite all obstacles, the Bengal Left Front government remained deeply committed to the pursuit of an alternative path with emphasis on pro-people, especially pro-poor functioning, in the years and decades to come.