West Bengal’s Development Experience : How its Subversive Politics is Taking its Toll

7/30/2019 West Bengals Development Experience : How its Subversive Politics is Taking its Toll

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West Bengals

Development Experience :How its Subversive

Politics is Taking its TollPhilosophy of Development Term Paper

Raunaq Sahu, HS08H019

3/8/2011


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Introduction

West Bengal is in the throes of an epochal process of change. The CPI(M) led Left Front

government is on its way out after a reign spanning three decades, and its performance and

methods as well as the states development trajectory are being analyzed with great detail. As the

violence over the Tata Motors plant showed us, the cancerous tumour has metastasized and

succeeded in finding its way across several of the issues plaguing the state today. And the politics

involved in all this has had a significant role to play.


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The Economy

The economic reforms brought about by the central government would seem to indicate that

West Bengal has given a very good account of itselfthe growth rate for West Bengal for the

period from 1993-1994 to 2001-2002 was a commendable 7.2 percent, second to Karnataka

which registered a growth rate of 8.11 percent. Indias cumulative growth rate during this period

was 6.3 percent. The average per capita income in West Bengal grew by 5.5 percent as opposed

to the national average of 4.3 percent.1 This performance is all the more commendable when we

take into account the population growth rate of the state (a high 2.34% per annum)which is

because of the inflow of Bangladeshi immigrants.

If we look at the Agriculture sector, West Bengal is one of Indias best performers. It is

responsible for 14.6 percent of the countrys total yield. Its average yield (2424 kg per hectare)

ranks it in third place overall (the national average being 1739 kg per hectare). These numbers

have been achieved by Bengal despite its agricultural acreage being only 28.1 percent (when

compared to the numbers for Punjab and Haryana, which are 89.7% and 65% respectively). 2 An

important thing to note here is that marginal-sized holdings are the most commonbecause of

the land reforms. To boost levels of agricultural yields further, there has to be an increase in the

acreage irrigated (the costs for which are normally to be incurred by the Central Government).

This issue, however, does not figure in the Common Minimum Programme.

Coming back to the issue of Bengals impressive growth rate, a deeper analysis tells us a different

story. If we look at the period from 1985-1986 to 1990-1991, Bengals NSDP growth rate was

1

Studies on the Economy of West Bengal since Independence, Amiya Kumar Bagchi. Source: Economic andPolitical Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 47/482Wait Until Light, Satrujit Banerjee. Source: Opinion, The Telegraph


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24.52 percent, which was the sixth lowest in the country3. Logically, it follows that the high

growth rates observed in the nineties were a consequence of the low base rate that resulted from

the abysmal levels of growth in the preceding period.

So, merely looking at the economic aspect will not give us a clear picture of the situation. The

National Human Development Report released by the Planning Commission ranked West

Bengal 20th in 1991. In a survey limited to only 15 states, conducted in 2001, Bengal is ranked 8th.

There are more issues that the state has to overcome before it registers any sizeable

improvement in its HDI performance. Its finances are in a shambles. As of the fiscal year 2003-

03, interest payments, wages and pensions constitute 101 percent of the revenue receipts, with

interest liability alone accounting for 43.3 percent. The fiscal deficit (as a proportion of the

states GDP) is a stratospheric 8.5 percent. Almost three quarters of the registered small-scale

sector enterprises in the state are extremely weak. The state government had made a great deal

out of a recent report which stated that post-1991, West Bengal attracted the highest amount of

capital, second only to Gujarat. However, a close examination of the comparative figures shows

that for every crore invested in the state, the number of jobs generated is a pathetic 2.52 (as

opposed to 3.75 in Andhra Pradesh, 4.05 in Gujarat and 5.6 in Maharashtra) 4. Unless there is a

large scale employment of blue collar workers in the manufacturing sector and thereby a

reduction in the levels of poverty, a massive improvement in the healthcare system, HDI scores

are not going to see a serious improvement anytime soon. A massive roadblock stands in the way

of redressing the issue of unemploymenta large percentage of the literate unemployed cannot

be absorbed by the service sector because they do not possess the required communication skills

in English. The Left Governments decision to banish English from public schools has come

back to haunt it. To compound matters, the principal employer for these people i.e. the state

3Convergence of Human Development across Indian States, Hiranmoy Roy and Kaushik Bhattacharjee.

Source: IGIDR Proceedings/Project Reports Series, August 20094The Evolution of Industrial Relations in West Bengal, Ratna Sen. Source: International Labour Organization,

2009


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government can barely manage to pay its standing pension and wage bills. The future does not

look very promising.

The Healthcare Sector and Nutrition

The healthcare sector in West Bengal has seen mostly slow, and at best, uneven progress. Like

most Indian states, its health sector faces many systemic challenges. The root cause of this is the

severe under-funding of the sector, and a malfunctioning public delivery system5. The state has a

population of over 80 million, which means that there is a wide variation in health indicators

across the state, which the system is not equipped to deal with.

Health and other socio-economic indicators for West Bengal. Source: Chakravarty (2003) based on SRS

Bulletin, October 2002

5West Bengal: Health Systems Development Initiative - Programme Memorandum. Government of West

Bengal, DFID, UK 15. January 2005


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The public health delivery system is a victim to several issues: unfilled vacancies, staff

absenteeism, urban bias in the distribution of facilities and benefits, paucity of drugs at the lower

levels and poor management capacity. The fiscal crisis of the state government has caused a

sharp drop in the levels of investment in health and other development endeavours. The primary

healthcare sector is prey to criminal negligence. The level of public health expenditure a dismal

0.8% of state GDP and is very low, by international standards6. A large proportion of the measly

finances going to the sector are lost in staff payments and other administrative costs leaving the

government with little resources for new capital spending. Inadequate support for the public

sector has resulted in the ad hoc growth of a substantially large private sector, which is subject to

little or no regulation and, more often than not, delivers poor service.

The average level of nutrition in Bengal, especially among women is quite low, even though

malnutrition among children and severe malnutrition among children is also low. There is an

alarmingly high proportion of children with anaemia (78% compared to the national average of

74%). The nutritional status of women in the state is a major cause for concernin a survey

conducted by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau, West Bengal ranked 8th out of 9 states

with regard to vital variables like the chronic energy deficiency among women. In terms of the

BMI (Body Mass Index), the performance of the state is deplorableit ranks 24th among 25

states.

6West Bengal Human Development ReportDevelopment and Planning Department, Government of West

Bengal(May 2004)


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Nutritional status of married women in West Bengal and in India. Source: Chakravarty, 2003

In an effort to get out of this rut, the Government of West Bengal launched its Health Sector

Strategy and outlined its major objectives as: reduction of maternal mortality; reducing infant and

child mortality; minimizing burden from infectious diseases; elimination nutrition related diseases

and disorders and strengthening the private sector. Equity, efficiency and quality of public and

private healthcare can all be massively improved. There are is still a long way to go in this regard.

Literacy and Education

The West Bengal Human Development Report, 2004 states:

The literacy rate in West Bengal has always been higher than the all-India average, and West Bengal

ranks sixth among the major states in this regard. The state government has been making concentrated

efforts through various special schemes such as total literacy campaigns, non-formal education, etc apart

from formal schooling for children to achieve the goal of education for all as soon as possible.

We cannot afford to take this victorious declaration at face value. In 1999-2000, 27 percent of

households in the rural zones and 12 percent of all households in the urban zones did not have a


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single literate adult. The proportion of households without any female adult literate was even

higher, at 51 and 31 percent in the rural and urban areas respectively. Even among the so-called

literate population, around 17 percent in 1998-99(according to the NFHS 2) is only literate at the

below primary level7. The quality of primary education imparted in the state is poor. The plan

expenditure of the Education Department as a percentage of the total plan expenditure of the

government remained constant at around 7.5 percent during 1980-81 to 1993-94 and has

significantly declined in recent years.8 The education infrastructure in the state is also dismal.

Source: Nagi Reddy, 2003

The report conveniently ignores the aspect of higher education. And the biggest problem has to

do with the Left Governments stubborn refusal to permit the teaching of English in primary

schools. As noted earlier, this hinders the employability of the populace.

7Report of the Education Commission, Government of West Bengal, 1992 and the Pratichi Education Report,

2002, Kolkata8Budgetary Resources for Education, 1951-52 to 1993-94, Department of Education, MHRD, Government of

India, 1995


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Employment Trends

Employment, or rather the lack of it, is one of the most critical issues for the living conditions of

the people in West Bengal today. The rate of generation of employment has been lower than the

rate of expansion of the population and much lower than the rate of income growth. Reduced

public investment and expenditure on public services, effects of import competition and

inadequate flow of bank credit to small producers are the factors responsible for the current state

of affairs. Consequently, employment and job creation has shifted towards marginal, part-time

and insecure contractual work or self-employment9.

Census data on employment in West Bengal, as percentage of the total population. Source: Census of India,

2001

The ratio of main workers to the total male population fell quite significantly over the decade.

The inadequacy of productive employment opportunities, as highlighted earlier, is the main

factor here. This shift from main work to marginal work indicates that employment is hard to

come by and the typically secure forms of employment are losing ground to non-secure forms.10

For male workers, the big shift has been in terms of decline in the share of cultivators, which has

9West Bengal Human Development ReportDevelopment and Planning Department, Government of West

Bengal(May 2004)

10Wage Differentials in West Bengal, P. Chakraborty. Source: Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 10,

No. 4


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also declined in terms of absolute numbers. The wage differentials in (a) Organized industries,

(b) Unorganized industries and (c) the Public and Private sectors in the state influence the

dynamics of the employment sector.11 As illustrated by the table above, West Bengal has an

extremely low rate of female work participation in the country. This would reflect the

phenomenon of gender discrimination or instances of under-reporting due to the social

invisibility of women and the lack of recognition for the unpaid work that they do.

The Perversity of Politics: How it has brought Bengal to its knees

Most, if not all the problems that West Bengal faces today can be traced to its political set-up.

With the prevailing state of affairs and the aftermath of the madness and violence we have seen

over the past couple of years, it is not surprising that the Left Front is going into a steady decline

and is on its way out after ruling for thirty-three years. The belligerence that has been the Left

governments trademark has given way to the silent acquiescence to the reality the losses in the

assembly elections and the erosion of its popularity. The CPI(M) has to accept that it is the main

reason behind the present plight of the state. It had led the Left Front to victory in successive

elections over a long period of three decades. They had the mandate to bring about positive

changes in the state. They outlined their vision for the state in the 1978 Document titled

Industrial Policy in West Bengal. Their stated objectives were:

THE major goals of the Left Front Government over the long run should be:

(a) reversal of the trend towards industrial stagnation,

(b) arresting the growth of unemployment and providing for increased employment in the

industrial as well as agricultural sectors;

(c) encouraging the growth of small and cottage industries,

(d) lessening the stranglehold of the monopoly houses and multinational firms on the economy of

the State,

(e) encouragement of indigenous technology and industrial self-reliance,

(f) the gradual expansion of the public sector, and

11Wage Differentials in West BengalP. Chakraborty, Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 10, No.

4


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(g) increasing the control of the actual producers, that is, the workers, over the industrial

sector.12

What the last thirty years have shown us has turned out to be quite different. The CPI (M)

squandered that mandate by advancing its own vested interests at the cost of the progress and

development of West Bengal. Through their disruptive and heavy-handed way of running things,

they obfuscated the distinction between the party and the government; they promoted and

protected their cadres and unions in hospitals and centres of learning, they destroyed work

culture and discipline through unchecked and irresponsible trade-unionism, and when their

attitude wasnt enough, they resorted to violence. They failed to promote the industrial sector

and create employment in the state, something Buddhababu himself admitted to (he conceded in

an open letter that the industrial sector took a rear seat in the state). The regressive policies

didnt end there they decided against having English medium education in the public schools,

as a result of which a sizeable chunk of the educated young Bengalis are unemployable for the

purpose of proper jobs in the service sector.

Since the late 60s, Bengal had acquired an unenviable reputation for being unnecessarily over-

politicized and strepitous. For a certain period, it looked like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was trying

to recast its image.13 All those pretences are lost now. And as far as the general public is

concerned, they have realized that there isnt really a political entity that can save the state for

them, it is a case of choosing between the lesser of the two evils. Though there is no running

away from the fact that a significant political change is sweeping across Bengal, the fact remains

that the transition phase is going to be extremely testing and possibly damaging. As MJ Akbar

wrote in one of his columns:

12Industrial Policy for West Bengal, Government of West Bengal. Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 6,

No. 6/7, Special Number of West Bengal (Jan. - Feb., 1978) 13Brand Buddha in India's West Bengal: The LeftReinvents Itself, Partha Pratim Basu

Source: Asian Survey, Vol. 47, No. 2 (March/April 2007)


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The drama of Bengal is full of actors making powerful speeches. We need a plot, very quickly.14

One can only hope that the state emerges from this mire with strength and resolve.

14West Bengal: Next time, the Volcano, MJ Akbar. Source: Times of India, June 21, 2009

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West Bengal’s Development Experience : How its Subversive Politics is Taking its Toll