Statistics Bust Mamata’s Claim That The Centre Is Starving Bengal Of Funds

Bengal has been the second-largest beneficiary of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) in the current financial year.

According to figures given out by the Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur, in the Lok Sabha on Monday (2 December), Bengal received Rs 17,335 crore of CSS. Only Uttar Pradesh has got more funds (Rs 20,392.91) under CSS.

This flies in the face of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s oft-repeated allegation that the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government at the centre was starving Bengal of funds.

Banerjee has, time and again, accused the union government of neglecting Bengal and had cried victimhood in this respect during poll campaigns to garner public sympathy.

The statistics given out by Thakur in reply to an unstarred question had been updated till 26 November. Bengal has also received another Rs 3559.48 crore as grants-in-aid under the Central Sector Schemes (CS).

The total amount of Rs 20,894.48 crore received as grants-in-aid by Bengal under CSS and CS is much higher than many major states like Andhra Pradesh (Rs 12,911.53 crore), Bihar (Rs 16,385.64 crore), Karnataka (Rs 17,353.63 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 16,452.15 crore), Telangana (Rs 19,770.79 crore) and Chhattisgarh (Rs 11,981.30 crore).

Gujarat, which Banerjee often accuses of as being favoured by the centre, also received considerably less than Bengal (Rs 13,879.74 crore).

Only three states received more grants-in-aid (CSS+CS) than Bengal: Maharashtra (Rs 80,604.74 crore), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 39,907.91 crore) and Rajasthan (Rs 23,473.44 crore). All three states have ongoing mega centrally-funded infrastructure projects.

That’s not all. Bengal has also been a major beneficiary of other centrally-sponsored projects. For instance, Bengal received one of the highest allocations of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs) or skill development centres.

These vocational training centres are fully funded by the union government’s Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. Bengal has been allocated 47 PMKKs, and 42 of them have already started functioning.

Bengal is the only state to be sanctioned two PMKKs for every district. In the last one year, 20 PMKKs have come up in the state.

Only Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar got more PMKKs than Bengal. Even major states like Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have fewer PMKKs than Bengal.

Bengal also scored high on the number of people who have benefitted through the PMKKs. According to statistics placed by the Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in the Lok Sabha yesterday (2 December), a total of 88,891 people were trained in the 42 PMKKs in Bengal.

Almost 50 per cent of those trained in the PMKKs in Bengal have got placements (jobs), and this rate of placements is the second-highest after Uttar Pradesh.

Mamata Banerjee’s false and oft-repeated allegations of Bengal being discriminated against by the union government have, thus, been proven false by statistics.