NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday highlighted the prevalence of corruption, poor law and order situation in West Bengal.
She stated that the ruling TMC government in West Bengal deprived its population of central government schemes like Ayushman Bharat. She also mentioned the government’s inability to release funds under the MGNREGA scheme in view of fake job cardholders.
During the ‘Vikshit Bharat and Eastern India’, even at the National Library in Kolkata, she said the state’s share in gross capital formation has declined to 2.9% from 6.7% in 2010. “State has taken no step to reverse this downfall,” she added.
“A large part of the loan goes to service debt and pensions. Between FY18 and FY22, amount spent on interest payment, pensions and administrative expense accounted for 35% of the revenue expenditure,” the minister added. She further stated that the state’s annual per capita income has been lower than the national income for two full decades and it will take the next three to four years to bring it at par with the national average. She also said that the state’s share in industrial production was merely 3.5% in FY21 as against 24% in 1947.
She urged the corporate sector to boost private capital expenditure, stressing on the importance of their active involvement in India’s economic growth journey.
She said global investors are increasingly placing their trust in India, recognising the country’s promising prospects.