From Ashis Biswas
KOLKATA: With the constraints of governance catching up with it, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has been trying to shed its known rigidity over land acquisition and other issues, during the first year of its tenure.
Otherwise, there is really not much to report about its performance—rather, the lack of it. Despite negotiations and occasional announcements, no new major industry has announced any investment.West Bengalis nowhere near securing its demand for a 3-year moratorium on its massive loans taken from the Centre. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s old penchant for inconsequential fairs, award ceremonies and functions continues. She has not gone in for massive cutouts in the style of south Indian leaders. That does not make her a shrinking violet either. Her beaming face greets the citizens all over greater Kolkata, with the city Corporation putting up thousands of hoardings highlighting her achievements — mostly announcements! — at public expense!
Not that nothing has changed. The number of mandays lost during 2011-12, on account of strikes and lock-outs, going by official statistics, has dropped to 60,000 only, in the state. Ms Banerjee has made it clear that disruptions of work or normal activity would not be tolerated at any cost. This does not mean that there are no breakdowns of civic order on account of (mostly Trinamool-sponsored) violence in the state. But the police do take the initiative to clear our roadblocks etc, unlike what used to occur during the Left front rule. And for the first time in many years, controversial Transport Minister Madan Mitra at least showed that with determination, public transport could be kept operative even during a nation-wide strike — something unthinkable in Bengal!
The government has also tried to rein in the rampaging force of hawkers by clearing encroachment from some areas. “For all their pro-poor rhetoric in their opposition days, Trinamool leaders realise very well that over the years, politically sponsored encroachment and the attendant corruption remains the only “growth” area in an economically stagnant State. Governments must devise some kind of policy to check the menace and the TMC has not been found wanting,” says an observer.
There is some good news in the Panchayat sector, where Minister Subrata Mukherjee has revved up the NREGA schemes. To help farmers, the government proposes to set up a “mandi” in each of 340-odd blocks, but the problem of land acquisition, an enduring legacy of the Singur agitation, continues to stall progress. Minister for Irrigation Dr Manas Bhuyan too has been proactive in securing central assistance and other help to reduce the damage caused by periodic floods. He has also been active in bringing in new investments and schemes for the limping textile sector.
Minister for Industries Partha Chatterjee can only repeat the government’s old announcement of there being 80,000-crore worth of investments in the pipeline. The truth is, according to economist Dipankar Dasgupta, apart from an investment of only Rs 351 crore, nothing really has materialised, during the year in review.
Worse, the perception about West Bengal as an industry-unfriendly state has only been strengthened after the Singur agitation that drove the Tatas out. The TMC Government is the most personality-driven administration in India, in the sense that there is no other leader or decision maker than Ms Banerjee. Yet, in a recent survey conducted by a leading economic daily, almost half the leaders of business and industry named Ms Banerjee as the biggest stumbling block where an expansion of economic activity was concerned.
Her recent concessions — announcing some relief for ceiling-excess land for acquisition for specific projects covering a range of proposed industries — did not make much difference. On the other hand, her anti SEZ obsession may have driven away much needed investment from Infosys in the IT sector!
Her pro-poor announcements include the provision of insurance coverage up to Rs 30,000 for workers in the unorganised sector and the availability of loans for cultivators through banks. But these are promises only. Out of some 39,000 villages, over 7500 remain unserved by any banking at all! On the debit side, her repeated concessions to the Muslims, involving the announcement of sops such as government allowance to Imams and their Muezzins, while neglecting all other communities, have only helped revive latent communal tensions.
“The fact is this government at least during its first year has given no indication of the direction it wishes to take,” is a common refrain. This is not unusual, seeing the kind of debt burden the government inherited from the left, with annual interest repayments amounting to over Rs 22,000 crore. The State government resolutely refuses to undertake any revenue increase exercises on its own, despite repeated suggestion from the centre and economists in general. It would like to shift the financial burden entirely to the centre, which naturally is not easy to work out within a federal political structure.
Union Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee has stated this repeatedly, but Ms Banerjee remains unimpressed, as the stalemate lingers.
All in all, not a good year for the people of the state, but it would not be fair to blame Ms Banerjee and her party solely. If the state is facing its worst financial crisis in years, surely the Left parties that ruled for 34 years must be held responsible in a major way for this, not people who have taken over only for a year. “Nor can it be said that all the indicators are negative under the TMC , and in any case one year is too short a time frame for delivering judgments,” says an observer.
The situation in the Maoist-insurgency infested Jangalmahal districts has improved decisively. The problem of Gorkha autonomy remains, but the situation in north Bengal is far more peaceful. And despite some incidents, the over all law and order situation is far, far better than what it used to be, towards the end of the Left Front’s tenure. These are strong positives.
However, there may be no early improvement for the people in terms of the fulfillment of their demand for development and new jobs, largely because the centre itself is no longer in a position to help the states, given its own financial problems. Therein lies the cause for future concern for ms Banerjee and her party. She needs more time, but Bengal electorate may not wait for long, having once tasted political change after 34 years. And it has to be stressed, her own reckless promises have only sharpened their expectations, not dampened them. (IPA Service)
