5 Minutes Read
West Bengal Budget 2021: Ahead of polls, Mamata bets big on roads, flyovers, education
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)
Summary
In a first, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee read out the Budget statement for 2021-22 on Friday. In 2002, Mamata was the first woman to present the Railways Budget in Parliament.
In a first, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee read out the Budget statement for 2021-22 on Friday. In 2002, Mamata was the first woman to present the Railways Budget in Parliament.
West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra is under medical supervision and had urged Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Speaker Biman Banerjee if Mamata could present the budget in his absence. So, the Trinamool Congress supremo delivered the budget speech with the permission of the Speaker and Governor.
Before delivering the budget speech, the Chief Minister said that GDP of the state has increased by 2.5 percent. Elections to the 294-seat West Bengal legislative assembly are likely to be held in April or May.
Key takeaways
The budget proposal for FY2021-22 is Rs 29,96,88 crore. The budget has made huge allocations for the education sector.
An amount of Rs 50 crore has been allotted to build 500 new schools in Alchiki language. This apart, 100 new schools have been proposed for Nepali, Urdu, Kamtapuri and Kurmali language. To build 100 new English medium schools for students from ST/ST and economically backward sections, Rs 50 crore was allotted. There is also a proposal to recruit 1,500 para-teachers for 500 Santhali schools. They will get a hike of 3 per cent every year. Meritorious students will receive tabs, and Rs 50 crore will be allotted in the next financial year for Madrasas. A new project called Juvashakti was also launched, where 10,000 students will be inducted into government organisations as interns every three years.
The budget has also given importance to infrastructure, with proposals to build flyovers in major cities, including capital Kolkata, and rural areas. About 48,000km of new roads have been proposed for rural areas. New roadways will be developed in Cooch Behar. In Kolkata, at least four new flyovers have been proposed. Road taxes, too, have been lifted from January 21 to June 21 due to COVID-19.
For 10 lakh new self-help groups — to be named Matribandana — the budget proposed a loan provision of Rs 25,000 crore from cooperative banks in the next five years.
Expenditure in Agri and allied sectors has been increased by 6.1 times. Financial assistance for farmers under the Krishak Bandhu scheme has been raised from Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000.
In terms of housing, 20 lakh new houses will be constructed for SC/ST, and Rs 1,500 crore was allotted for this. Land documents will be given to 1.5 lakh refugees, and Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for this.
Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout
3 Mins Read
Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter
Daily Newsletter
