Rs 8 crore Deficit budget for 2020-21 placed in Bengal Assembly today

Kolkata,10 January (HS): West Bengal Finance minister Amit Mitra today presented a Rs. 8 crore deficit budget for 2020-21 in the state Assembly here with an eye on multiple growth trajectory in the areas of social security, agriculture and industry besides employment generation. 

Though there was no clear provision for generation of enough revenue for the state in the budget to meet the huge deficit, an outlay of Rs 2,55,677 crores had been made by the Finance minister under various heads for the introduction and development of several  Social Security schemes, Healthcare, Education and for the growth of Small and Medium sector industries to generate more employment. Claiming that the growth of GDP in West Bengal had touched an all-time high of 10.4 percent this year against the national average of 5.7 percent, Dr. Mitra in his hour-long budget speech informed the house this afternoon that during this year the rate of unemployment in the state had been reduced by a record 40 percent when about 9.11 lakh people were given jobs under various schemes.

The industrial growth was also up by 5 times during this year, compared to only about 2 percent at the National level, he claimed amid thumping of desks. Presenting his budget proposals for the coming fiscal (2020-21), the Finance minister said in spite of a deficit of Rs 8 crores, the state government had decided to start a number of Social security schemes for the economically backward people. Under these schemes monthly pensions of Rs 1,000 would be paid to every Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribe person after attaining the age of 60, to help them come out of abject poverty and social backwardness. A total allocation of Rs 2,500 crores had been made for this purpose,

Dr. Mitra announced and said, in addition, another Rs 500 crores were set aside for the social Pension scheme for every person belonging to the BPL category. Under the scheme, each of the 1.5 crore beneficiaries in the state would now get the benefit of Rs 2 lakh each absolutely free, instead of Rs 25 per month earlier. Similarly, in the Education sector, Dr. Mitra announced, the government had decided to set up three more universities next year in different parts of the state including the country’s first Tribal University at Jhargram at a total cost of Rs 100 crores for the purpose. In addition, he said three new Civil Services Academy would come up in Kolkata, Siliguri and Durgapur by next year with an allocation of Rs 15 crores to enable more students from the state to go for civil services examinations.

For the development of nearly 3 lakh workers in over 370 tea gardens in West Bengal, the government would also for the first time, spend  Rs 500 crores during the next three years for building their permanent houses, the Finance minister while presenting his last full-scale annual budget before the next year’s state Assembly elections, announced amid continuous thumping of desks by the members. The government had also allocated Rs 200 crores under a new  ‘Hasir Alo’ scheme for providing free electricity to 3.5 million poor families who were using the maximum 75 units of power every three months cycle, he said. Moreover, in order to boost the industrial growth of the state, which claimed to have already attracted over Rs 22,500 crores as Foreign Direct Investment, the state government had decided to set up another 100 industrial hub/perks during the next couple of years at a cost of Rs 200 crores to add to the present number of 520.

Several major cuts had also been announced by the Finance minister to reduce the tax burden from industries besides waving their legal expenses to enable them to go for a one-time settlement in cases of multiple industrial disputes. Steps would also be taken to digitalize the entire process of issuing of certificates and necessary papers of every government scheme under a new project called  ‘Bangla Sahayata Kendra’ at the block level.

Bengal budget reactions: Bengal budget pro-people and growth-oriented’ say experts

Describing the West Bengal budget for 2020-21 as presented by Finance minister Amit Mitra in the state Assembly here this afternoon as ‘pro-people and growth-oriented’, leading city-based industrialists and various Chambers of Commerce and Industry said sincere efforts had been made to maintain a higher growth trajectory.
Reacting to various provisions of the state budget proposals noted industrialist and President, Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) Ramesh Kumar Saraogi hailed the state government claim of achieving 10.4 percent GDP growth in the middle of a downturn of the national economy.
In spite of limited resources the Finance minister had presented a ‘balanced budget with great emphasis on reducing compliance burden, disputes, and promotion of self-employment, under very challenging circumstances, he commented. 
He said since the State had huge debts in respect of borrowings from the Central Government and market, coupled with the nonpayment of over Rs one lakh crores from the union government, they ‘eat up most of the States’ tax revenue’ 
Also complimenting Dr. Mitra, Director General of Merchants Chamber of Commerce and Industry(MCCI) Souvik Banerjee said the dynamic efforts of the state government and its forward-looking policies had contributed to 3.1 percent growth in industrial production. It was possible due to heavy emphasis laid on the growth of the MSME sectors in terms of the creation of Industrial Clusters and Parks in the State, he said.
However, pending issues plaguing the existing industrial parks including problems of electricity, land and road construction, needed to be resolved at the earliest, he emphasized.
According to Vivek Jalan, Co-Chairperson, Indirect Tax Committee of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and senor Partner Tax Connect Advisory Services, the Amnesty Schemes announced for settlement of disputed State Taxes would be a good opportunity to resolve the old issues worth several hundred crores of rupees.
Moreover, he said the scheme ‘Banglashree’ for new MSMEs would boost the morale of small and medium industries. Besides, the allocation of Rs. 500 crores for Karma Sathi Scheme would certainly boost the morale of the youth and unemployed sections of the State to become self-reliant. 
Also reacting positively, T B Chatterjee another senior member of BCCI   said in the context of ailing tea industries, total exemption of Agricultural Tax and introduction of Chaa Sundari scheme for the welfare of permanent workers of the Tea industry were welcome a step in the right direction.

Hindusthan Samachar/Ankur Bhattacharya/Manish