Bengal had paid dearly for demonetisation and hasty implementation of Goods and Services Tax, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said just as her Government on Wednesday broke the tradition to present the State Budget — a panchayat poll-oriented exercise — ahead of the Central Budget.
Even as her Finance Minister Amit Mitra placed a highly populist Budget decorated with bouquets for the farmers, women, and not least minorities, Banerjee said this year’s Budget underscored her Government’s good intention “to serve the people who have reposed faith in us. We have dared to implement this people-friendly Budget” offsetting the bad effects of the “Centre’s anti-people measures which have broken the country’s economic backbone,” and particularly causing Bengal a loss of Rs 1,800 thousand crore.
“Demonetisation and hasty implementation of GST has ruined the country’s economy,” she said alleging the Centre was “doing nothing to reign in rising price of essentials items, diesel and petrol.” She added after the BJP’s unimpressive show in Gujarat elections, “the Centre may bring in some reforms with an eye on the next year’s elections,” but one wondered whether it would definitely deliver the goods.
When she was reminded that her own Budget could also attract similar criticisms she refused to answer “political questions.”
Pointing at the fallout of the Centre’s “uneconomic economic policies,” Amit Mitra said notwithstanding the high-sounding promises the Narendra Modi Government had failed to revive the national economy a proof of which could be seen in the falling rate of investment that India had attracted in the recent times. “literally there is no investment happening in India. In fact we have received 0.57 percent investment which means no investment at all.”
Earlier Mitra placed a “lollypop Budget” with an apparent eye on the rural polls scheduled to take place a few months from now and the general elections next year.
Minorities tended to benefit the most by “Didi’s largesse” if her critics’ words are to be incorporated even as the Government set aside a whopping Rs 3,761 for minority and Madarsa education.
Mitra tended to spend heavily on women folk by providing more silage to the Chief Minister’s pet theme like Kanyashree “aimed at funding the poor girl students’ education” and her new brainchild “Rupashree” that would take care of women who married beyond the age of 18 with a Rs 25,000 dole.
In tea sector agricultural tax was removed in order to benefit about 25 lakh tea workers “at a time when the Centre has repeatedly failed to honour its promises by taking over the sick tea gardens.” The Finance Minister also proposed to lower the stamp duty by one percentage point on dwelling units in an apparent bid to rejuvenate the stressed housing sector.
In rural housing sector such stamp duty would now come down to 5 percent from 6 percent and in urban sector to 6 percent from 7 percent. He announced a Rs 100 crore corpus to help farmers get fair value for their produce, besides there would be no mutation fee if land is bought for farming. The elderly farmers would not get an annual stipend of Rs 1,000 up from Rs 750. Differently abled persons will also get a stipend of Rs 1,000 per year.