Eye on 2011 in Buddha 10 Budget

With the municipal polls coming up in a few months and the Assembly elections slotted for next year,the Left Front government in West Bengal...

With the municipal polls coming up in a few months and the Assembly elections slotted for next year,the Left Front government in West Bengal led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday hoped to recover lost grounds by presenting a Budget that promises more jobs,puts emphasis on agriculture rather than industry and rolls out goodies to the poor and landless.

The Budget presented by Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta laid stress on job creation in a state where,according to the latest Economic Review,there were over 6.3 million educated unemployed.

Besides,if the Budget is any reflection of the states development priority,industry is no more the focus area of the Left government. While highlighting the need for development of the agriculture sector,the government virtually rolled back from its earlier robust agenda for reforms and industrialisation,and gave more attention to grants and subsidies for the poor.

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The allocation for agriculture and allied sectors marked a quantum jump,registering an increase of about Rs 646 crore. It included Rs 50 crore increase in agricultural outlay,Rs 22 crore in horticulture and food processing,Rs 250 crore in minor irrigation,Rs 245 crore in major irrigation and Rs 27 crore in animal resources over previous year.

The outlay for industry has been increased merely by Rs 50 crore to Rs 400 crore. The raise in the Information Technology sector is about Rs 7 crore.

Among the other significant steps in the proposed Budget was an announcement relating to distribution of ownership rights over land already in possession of the landless poor. The government has decided to give the ownership rights (up to five cottahs of land) to those agricultural labourers,rural artisans and fishermen who are possessing homestead land before December 31,2009,but did not have ownership rights over it. It will benefit more than 200,000 families in the state,according to the Budget.

Yet another thrust area was the strengthening of the public distribution system for which the state has proposed a subsidy of Rs 700 crore. Dasgupta said distribution of rice to BPL families at Rs 2 per kg through ration shops would continue. The benefit would be extended to another 20 per cent people who are in above poverty line (APL) category but still are poor.