West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Friday presented a limited deficit budget for 2016-17, which did not impose any new taxes, even as it announced administrative reforms to step up ease of business, while announcing relief measures for the salaried class and development initiatives in the education sector.
Beginning his budget speech with an Urdu couplet and signing off with Tagore, Mr. Mitra said that the State’s tax revenue has more than doubled to Rs. 42, 919.7 crore between 2010-11 and 2015-16. The State’s plan expenditure for the last fiscal at Rs. 53,010 crore had hit a record and was higher than budget estimates.
The fiscal deficit has been reined in at 2.7 per cent as has been the revenue deficit. “This is a significant achievement, keeping in mind the huge debt liabilities of the State,” Mr. Mitra said in the West Bengal State Legislative Assembly.
The Finance Minister in his Budget speech announced significant allocations to the Panchayat and Rural development department (the highest amount), the agriculture and agricultural marketing department and the irrigation & waterways department.
Following the presentation of the budget, Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee said that the Chief Minister has continued to focus on the “villages” in her programmes and the budget reflected her ideology.
“She [Mamata Banerjee] said development will not be confined within the spheres of the urban areas, but spread in the countryside. The Budget underscores the point by increasing the allocation for rural development from 8500 crore to 10,652 crore from about 8500,” Mr. Mukherjee said.
Minority Affairs & Madrasha Education, school education, health and family welfare, women and social welfare have also been allocated large sums in the budget. Rs. 2500 crore was allocated for Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education department. While Rs.9000 crore was earmarked for School Education, Rs.456 crore was allocated for Higher Education.
Debt crisis turning in death crisis says Mamata
Following the budget presentation, the Finance Minister was asked whether the State government has a plan B if the Centre does not concede to the request of restructuring the loan or moratorium on interest payment. “The Centre can give 10 billion dollars for debt restructuring to Greece. Why can’t it give a single penny to West Bengal,” Mr. Mitra said. On Thursday the Chief Minister said that the State has taken a loan of about 1.13 lakh crore in five years.
“In the year 2016-17 we have to pay Rs.36,869.31 crore for loan repayment. The figure will be Rs.47,000 crore in 2017-18 and Rs.51,000 crore in 2018-19,” Ms. Banerjee said.
“The debt crisis is turning out to a death crisis,” Ms Banerjee added.
The opposition targeted the Trinamool Congress [TMC] government on the issue of “debt trap” on Friday.
“Before TMC came to power there was a cumulative debt of Rs.78,000 crore and it was taken in six decades. But they took 1.13 lakh crore in five years. The State was pushed into a debt trap by this government,” said CPI-M leader Sujan Chakravarty.
100 core for E-classrooms
The new development initiatives include increasing the outlay for State’s Merit Cum Means scholarship for poor meritorious students to Rs. 200 crore from Rs. 45 crore allocated earlier. The Minister announced Rs 100 crore in the initial phase for creation of e-classrooms across 2000 state run schools and 732 colleges and Universities.
“The teachers in Kolkata and experts from around the world will be able to interact with the students from across the State, even in the remotest parts,” Mr Mitra said. However, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee will “look after” the coordination with global experts, he added.
