If the focus of the Left Front government in West Bengal in its earlier years was on land reforms to an extent seen nowhere in the country and the institutionalisation of the Panchayat Raj, the thrust on greater industrialisation without any threat to the State's food security has marked the later period of the rule. “Agriculture is our base and Industry our prospect,” says Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. “It is not a mere slogan to us. On the contrary, it is a well-contemplated holistic attitude. It will never be possible to bring about economic development in the State in future, if we fail to stride forward on the vehicle of industrial growth by consolidating our agricultural achievement.”
In 2009 alone, there was an investment of Rs. 7,060 crore in the large and medium industry. Land acquisition has been a contentious issue, but the Left Front government has underlined its determination to avoid acquiring fertile agricultural land as much as possible. A map of land under use has been drawn up, and specific packages of compensation for land and for the rehabilitation of land owners are being worked out, with each new industrial venture. Moreover, emphasis has been laid on the setting up of self-help groups, which now number more than 10 lakh, and for which bank loans are being arranged as are opportunities for marketing their products.
Having consolidated the benefits of the land reforms through distribution of surplus land to the landless, the Left Front government has adopted a programme to allocate homestead-cum-cultivation land to the homeless and landless families.
There have been successes in the agricultural sector, with West Bengal being one of the biggest rice producers in the country. Priority has been given to the extension of irrigation facilities to new areas, especially in the western regions of the State. Emphasis has been laid on increasing the area of cultivation of pulses and oilseeds through crop diversification, conservation of bio-genetics and natural resources and conservation of water and soil through watershed management.
In all, l46 regulated market committees have been set up for marketing agricultural produce and 99 marketing intelligence centres have been established to monitor the prices.
More recently, the security environment in the State has been of concern to the Left Front government. The Left-wing extremism in the south-west of the State and the separate Statehood demand raised by some regional forces in the Darjeeling Hills and some areas in the plains of north Bengal have posed a challenge to the authorities.
To cope with such a situation, the government is working on improving the police-population ratio, acquiring more sophisticated equipment and providing better training facilities to its police force and incentives to those working in difficult areas. It has strengthened its resolve to flush out the Maoists from the State in the wake of the recent subversive acts committed by the extremists, though Mr. Bhattacharjee insists that the situation in areas where they have been active cannot be simplified as one of law and order.
“We are equally careful about the socio-economic aspects of the region and are attaching significance to the political campaign, along with the joint police action in the area,” he has said.
As for the political impasse in the Darjeeling Hills, the government has initiated the process of dialogue to find a way out.
