West Bengal believes in giving development humane face: Mamata Banerjee at G20 meeting

The Chief Minister took the opportunity to talk about her government’s work and invited the delegates to visit yet again

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. File | Photo Credit: ANI

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that her government believes in development with a human face. “Without a human face, a government cannot work. Our social security (schemes) is the main thrust,“ she told the delegates at a G-20 meeting held in Kolkata.

The Chief Minister said that her government is providing free food grains to the population of the State as well as a free scholarship to all girl children in the State. “Education is free, health is free and scholarship is free,” she said.

Ms. Banerjee said that during her regime, the GDP of her State has increased four times and her government has been able to create 12 million jobs. She said that her government’s focus has been women empowerment and the small and medium enterprise sector. “We launched the ‘government at your doorstep’ (Duare Sarkar) programme to ensure that people get the benefits of our development initiatives. The programme won a national award,” she added.

“Is it my third term and I worked as an MP for seven terms,” the Chief Minister told the gathering, stating that she fought a communist ideology and defeated a government that had been in power for 34 years. Speaking about the locational advantage of the State, Ms. Banerjee said that West Bengal is the gateway to northeastern States of the country as well as South East Asian countries.

“Government of India is run by different political party and our government is run by a different political party,” she said, adding that she wants to see the country be self-sufficient.

She urged the delegates to enjoy the hospitality of Kolkata and urged them to visit the city again and gain.

The G-20 meeting saw 12 international speakers, including officials from the World Bank, Monetary Authority of Singapore, France and Estonia. The meeting focused on an exhibition on digital innovations for advancing financial inclusion, and sessions on the role of digital public infrastructure in financial inclusion.

Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Saurabh Garg and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) MD and CEO Dilip Asbe are among those scheduled to address sessions at the meeting.