Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee rolls out pre-poll dole: Budget largesse aimed at vote harvest
Telegraph | 9 February 2024
A hike in the monthly Lakshmir Bhandar payout; another instalment of dearness allowance; handouts for fishermen, weavers and artisans; a rise in allowances for civic volunteers and their rural counterparts; a pledge to implement, with the state’s money, the central schemes delayed by frozen funds.
These were some of the measures that Bengal finance minister (independent charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya announced on Thursday, in her budget proposals for 2024-25.
The Rs 366,166-crore budget proposals, tabled barely two months before the general election, indicate that Trinamul wants to use its welfare-oriented, “pro-people” policies to take on the BJP juggernaut at a time when vast swathes of the nation face substantial economic distress.
“Despite the Centre’s uselessness, the Ma-Mati-Manush (mother-soil-people) government here has shown how to work for the people, how to move ahead. This budget is for women, for children, for farmers, for labourers, for (migrant) workers, for teachers, for those in service… and so many others. This is a humane budget of harmony,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.
“Bengal’s unity is reflected in this budget. This is showing the way to the entire nation…. Despite our limited means, we have done our very best to give the people the maximum benefits. This is a truly people-friendly budget.”
Mamata had severely criticised the proposals in the interim Union budget, presented a week ago.
Bhattacharya devoted a sizeable part of her speech to identifying the shortcomings in the Union budget before explaining how the proposals in her budget were different.
The comparisons with the Union budget infuriated the BJP members, who employed various means to keep interrupting Bhattacharya’s speech, including bellicose cries of “Jai Shri Ram”.
Amid the din, Bhattacharya
read out some key portions of the speech before tabling it as read.
Leader
of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari later tore into the budget as
“directionless”.
“This
has nothing worthwhile or meaningful. This reeks of her (Mamata’s) fear of imminent defeat. This is a
budget made with the sole aim of somehow salvaging the situation ahead of the
general election,” Adhikari alleged.
Virtually
echoing him, CPM state secretary Md Salim said the budget had done nothing to
provide livelihood opportunities and that the state’s borrowings were steadily
on the rise while the avenues for debt-servicing were on the wane.
• The highlights of the budget proposals include a Rs 500 hike for
Lakshmir Bhandar beneficiaries in the general category (to Rs 1,000 a month),
and an increase of Rs 200 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women (to Rs
1,200 a month).
Mamata had announced this scheme — which involves an annual
allocation of Rs 12,000 crore and has over 2.11 crore beneficiaries now — ahead
of the 2021 Assembly elections. It’s believed to have earned her huge electoral
support from women.
• After a 4 per cent DA hike announced on December 21 last year,
the state government has announced another 4 per cent rise amid an increasingly
militant agitation by sections of employees and pensioners who want parity with
central government staff and pensioners.
This
enhancement benefits 14 lakh employees and pensioners, and burdens the state
with an additional expenditure of Rs 2,400 crore.
• For the three lakh marine fishermen rendered unemployed for two
months by restrictions on fishing, the budget proposes a monthly handout of Rs
5,000, called Samudra Sathi, allocating Rs 200 crore for the purpose.
Additionally,
the deaths of fishermen, weavers and artisans would entitle their next of kin
to a Rs 2-lakh compensation, for which Rs 60 crore has been earmarked.
• A hike of Rs 1,000 in monthly pay has been announced for the 1.15
lakh civic volunteers, village police and green police personnel, with Rs 180
crore set aside for this. The quota for their absorption into the state police
has been doubled to 20 per cent.
• For all contractual and casual employees, the terminal allowance
of either Rs 2 lakh or Rs 3 lakh has been enhanced to a uniform Rs 5 lakh, with
an allocation of Rs 100 crore.
• The state has pledged to use its own resources to make up for the
BJP-led Centre’s funds freeze on its projects and schemes for Bengal, such as
the 100 days’ work programme and the Awas (housing) Yojana.
The
budget has earmarked Rs 3,700 crore to clear, later this month, some of the
dues of the 21 lakh MGNREGA workers who have not been paid their wages.
Besides, under Karmasree, the state will ensure at least 50 days’ work on its
own for each job card holder, starting in May.
• The state has also extended the Swasthya Sathi scheme to the 28
lakh migrant workers registered with it who live outside the state. This will
give them access to hospital care in their place of work through a Rs 5-lakh
insurance cover. The allocation for this is Rs 150 crore.
However,
the corollary to this electoral push is the upward shove to the fiscal deficit
for the third consecutive year, budget documents reveal.
The
Bengal government has budgeted for a fiscal deficit of 3.63 per cent of its
gross state domestic product (GSDP) for 2024-25, up from 3.49 per cent in the
revised estimate for 2023-24 and 3.26 per cent in 2022-23. The increase in the
deficit comes amid higher revenue expenditures on social services.
Consequently,
the state’s total debt is projected to rise to Rs 693,231.66 crore in 2024-25,
up from Rs 630,783.50 crore (according to the revised estimate for 2023-24).
Budget documents reveal that the debt-to-GDP ratio will be 36.88 per cent in
2024-25.
The
burden of interest payment on the state for 2024-25 is estimated at Rs
45,268.83 crore, up from Rs 42,275.27 crore in the revised estimate for
2023-24.
However,
the government is optimistic about its debt-servicing ability as it hopes a
buoyancy in the economy will drive up taxes and income. The state’s revenue
receipts — made up of tax revenue, non-tax revenue, share of the Union taxes
and grants-in-aid from the Centre — are projected to grow 13.22 per cent to Rs
236,251.09 crore from Rs 208,659.09 crore.
“I
had said that the people would be pleasantly surprised.... All the sectors have
been covered in this budget, which makes it truly successful,” Mamata said.
CAA, UCC
Mamata tore into the BJP for its eagerness to stress the
contentious new citizenship regime and the proposed uniform civil code ahead of
the general election.
“Ahead
of the elections, the BJP talks about CAA, NRC and UCC. But don’t be afraid: we
have unity in Bengal,” she said.
“We
have always said, don’t break the world, don’t break the unity and don’t
destroy the harmony.”