February 15, 2015
Inclusive growth – Bengal leads the way
‘Growth for all’ is the mantra of the WB Government under CM Ms Mamata Banerjee. The State’s economy has seen a turnaround in the last 3 years.
While the State’s GSDP has been growing at a much higher pace than the national GDP and the state revenues have grown historically by more than 85% in just 3 years, it is also the backward class which has perceived the growth. It is only when the backward class, economically and socially challenged sections are given the benefits of the growth, development becomes inclusive and holistic.
Development of the backward class and the socially challenged class has received a huge boost under the government led by Mamata Banerjee, as shown in the charts below:
Planned Expenditure:
The planned expenditure has grown from Rs 391.85 crore to Rs 610.85 crore, in the last 3 years under Trinamool’s rule compared to the last 3 years of Left regime.
Building of Hostels:
The annual average of building hostels from State Fund for backward class in the last 3 years has increased to 183 from 117.5 (during the last 3 years of CPM rule).
While on an annual average 5 hostels were built from central grants from 2009-10 to 2011-12, the average was 12.3 hostels in the last 3 years. The annual average expenditure grew by 73% from Rs 57.2 crore (2009-10 to 2011-12) to Rs 99.97 crore (2011-12 to 2013-14).
Scholarship and Caste Certificate:
In the last 3 years Trinamool Government has given scholarships to more than 31.45 lakh students compared to 8.92 lakh in the last 2 years of Left Front.
In terms of empowering backward classes with distributing the caste certificate West Bengal under TMC has outperformed Left’s regime. Caste certificates were given to 23.22 lakh people in the last 3 years compared to 7.56 lakh in the last 2 years of Left rule.
Distribution of Cycle:
In the last 3 years WB government under TMC has distributedcycles to more than 1.15 lakh students with an average of 38,861 cycles per year, while in the last year of Left rule the number was only 9,418 cycles.
