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Something lacking in direction of budget: West Bengal

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: The reaction of the West Bengal government to the Union budget was “mixed,” State Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said here on Friday.

“There is something lacking in the overall social direction and also in the expenditure side of the budget,” Dr. Dasgupta said. He, however, acknowledged that “there are important announcements on certain specific areas such as waiver of agricultural loans, increase in budgetary provisions for education and public health.”

He regretted that in the budget, “there is still reference primarily to growth of Gross Domestic Product but no specific mention has been made of the need for employment generation.” This is a matter of concern because despite growth there has been an alarming increase in unemployment, the Minister pointed out.

Neither was it clear from the budget speech of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram “how much contribution will be made by the Union government in providing recapitalisation assistance to the banks” on the questions of waiver of agricultural loan and one-time-settlements (OTS) that are expected to bring some relief to the problem of indebtedness of farmers.

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