[Reader-list] What the Communists have done to West Bengal in 30years !
taraprakash
taraprakash at gmail.com
Sat Apr 25 20:41:05 IST 2009
Some important statistics that this report does not include, (not that I
have read in its entirety)
Population control: West Bengal has less number of people than rest of
India.
Secularism control: There are less number of Hindus, Muslims, Christians,
Sikhs, Budhists and Jains than the rest of India.
Political control: There are less number of chief minister (just 1) than the
rest of India (which has 25 chief ministers?)
Illiteracy control: There are less number of illiterate people in West
Bengal than rest of India.
Thanks
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pawan Durani" <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
To: "reader-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 4:58 AM
Subject: [Reader-list] What the Communists have done to West Bengal in
30years !
> "An interesting report card about the left front government. I wonder
> do we need these people to take India in next century or move it to
> where the USSR splitted and Communism failed ?"
>
> This report card has been prepeared by Congress I , the ruling party
> in India with whom the Communists had an alliance till few months
> back.
>
>
> 30 YEARS OF LEFT FRONT RULE IN WEST BENGAL:
> A DEVELOPMENT REPORT CARD
> APRIL 5, 2009
>
> Table of Contents
>
>
> 1. Health and Nutrition 3
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, West Bengal has very high levels
> of
> hunger and malnutrition when compared to the rest of India.
> 2. Education 5
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, West Bengal is failing to keep
> children in school and to ensure learning among them.
> 3. Employment Generation 7
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, negligible new employment is being
> created in West Bengal, even as other states are forging ahead.
> 4. Poverty 8
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, most of West Bengal's districts
> are
> among the poorest in India. It also has the ominous distinction of
> having India's poorest district.
> 5. Income Growth 9
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, West Bengal has very high levels
> of
> hunger and malnutrition when compared to the rest of India.
> 6. Law and Order 10
> After 30 years of Left rule, the ranking of West Bengal among Indian
> states in terms of per capita income has slid dramatically.
> 7. Basic Services and Infrastructure 11
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, West Bengal has under-invested in
> protecting its citizens. The incidence of heinous crimes in West
> Bengal is disproportionately high when compared to other states of
> India.
> 8. Welfare of Backward Classes 12
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, the Left government has failed to
> provide access to essential services and basic infrastructure to the
> people of West Bengal.
>
>
>
> 1. Health & Nutrition
>
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, West Bengal has very high levels of
> hunger and malnutrition when compared to the rest of India.
>
> · Hunger
> West Bengal has the highest rate of hunger in rural households among
> major Indian states.
> o This is validated in a recent Study led by Jean Dreze and Angus
> Deaton (see below).
>
>
> · Malnutrition of Women
> o Married women in West Bengal, on average, have a lower body-mass
> index than the average Indian woman, suggesting greater
> undernourishment. Married women in West Bengal also have a greater
> likelihood of suffering from anemia than the average Indian woman.
> o This data is from the West Bengal government’s own Human
> Development
> Report.
>
>
>
> · Not spending Central Government Funds on Healthcare
> West Bengal government has failed to fully and effectively spend the
> money released to it by the Central government, year after year.
>
>
> · Failure to spend on urban health services:
> Comptroller & Auditor General of India, Audit Report (Civil), West
> Bengal for the Year 2006-2007 notes that:
> “During 2002-2007, the (West Bengal government’s) department could
> not spend the budgeted funds of Rs 357.13 crore for urban health
> services. Further, unutilised funds of Rs 1.50 crore remained parked
> in the personal ledger accounts of the Superintendents of two
> hospitals for over seven years.”
> 2. Education
>
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, West Bengal is failing to keep
> children in school and to ensure learning among them.
>
> · Drop-out Rates
> West Bengal has the second highest school dropout rate among major
> states of India.
>
>
> · Learning of Children
>
> The level of learning of children in rural West Bengal schools is, on
> average, lower than most other states of India.
>
>
> · Poor Implementation of Mid-Day Meal Scheme
> The Comptroller & Auditor General of India, Performance Audit Report
> of the National Programme for Nutritional Support to Primary Education
> (Midday Meal Scheme), 2008 notes that:
> o “In test checked schools, cooked meals were not served for 37 per
> cent of the targeted 78,114 school-days due to delayed implementation
> of the programme, short receipt of rice, cooking cost, etc.”
> o Rs. 4.82 crore was claimed in excess of the actual spend for food
> grain transportation.
> o Pucca kitchen sheds were not available in 71 per cent of the
> schools.
> o Drinking water was not available in 29 per cent of the schools.
> Gas
> stoves were not available in 99 percent of the schools.
>
>
> 3. Employment Generation
>
> After 30 years of Left rule, negligible new employment is being
> created in West Bengal, even as other states are forging ahead.
>
> · Employment growth
> o Employment growth outside agriculture in West Bengal is way behind
> that of other comparable states and also behind the national average.
> o Employment growth has practically come to a halt in urban areas.
>
> · National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Implementation
> o While it complains about lack of support from the central
> government, the West Bengal government is failing to utilize funds
> allocated to it by the Centre to implement the scheme.
> § According to the CAG of India Performance Audit in 2008, the West
> Bengal government spent only 66.6% of the funds made available for the
> National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in 2006-07.
> o There is over-reporting of the implementation of the scheme, the
> actual implementation is much lower. According to a CAG of India
> Performance Audit in 2008:
> § Excess reporting of 6.06 lakh man days of cumulative employment
> generation was noticed just in Purulia district alone.
> § Excess reporting of funds utilization of Rs. 0.99 crore was
> noticed
> in both Medinipur and Purulia districts.
> 4. Poverty
>
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, most of West Bengal’s districts are
> among the poorest in India. It also has the ominous distinction of
> having India’s poorest district.
> · 14 out of West Bengal’s 18 districts (i.e. 78% of the districts)
> are among the 100 poorest districts in India.
> · The poorest district in India is Murshidabad in West Bengal, where
> 56% of the people live in abject poverty. An astonishing 1.47% of
> India’s rural poor live in this one district alone.
> Source: 2009 Study by Indian Statistical Institute for the Ministry of
> Statistics and Programme Implementation; based on analysis of NSS Data
>
> 5. Income Growth
>
> After 30 years of Left rule, the ranking of West Bengal among Indian
> states in terms of per capita income has slid dramatically.
> · West Bengal has gone from having the second position in per capita
> income among Indian states in 1960/61 to the ninth position in
> 2004/05.
> Ranking of Indian States by Per Capita Income
> 1960/61 1980/81 2004/05
> Maharashtra 1 2 2
> West Bengal 2 5 9
> Punjab 3 1 3
> Gujarat 4 4 4
> Tamil Nadu 5 8 6
> Haryana 6 3 1
> Assam 7 12 10
> Karnataka 8 6 7
> Rajasthan 9 14 11
> Andhra Pradesh 10 9 8
> Kerala 11 7 5
> Madhya Pradesh 12 10 13
> Orissa 13 11 12
> Uttar Pradesh 14 13 14
> Bihar 15 15 15
>
> Source: Central Statistical Organization (CSO)
> 6. Law & OrderEven after 30 years of Left rule, West Bengal has
> under-invested in protecting its citizens. The incidence of heinous
> crimes in West Bengal is disproportionately high when compared to
> other states of India.· Police ForceWest Bengal has under-invested in
> protecting its citizens – it has fewer policemen per capita than the
> all-India average. · Incidence of heinous crimesThe incidence of
> heinous crimes is much higher than the incidence in other comparable
> states and the all-India average. 7. Basic Services and
> InfrastructureEven after 30 years of Left rule, the Left government
> has failed to provide access to essential services and basic
> infrastructure to the people of West Bengal.· Availability of Drinking
> Water Only a quarter of households in West Bengal have access to safe
> drinking water, which is far less than other comparable states. ·
> Road
> connectivityLess than half the habitations in West Bengal are
> connected by pucca roads, which is far less than other comparable
> states.
>
> 8. Welfare of Backward Classes
>
> Even after 30 years of Left rule, the Left government has failed to
> look after the interests of the weaker sections of West Bengal,
> especially SC/ST groups.
> Observations made in the Comptroller & Auditor General of India
> Report, “Audit Report (Civil) for the year ended 31 March 2007”
> · During 2001-2006, against a budget of Rs 1.43 crores for
> pre-matric
> scholarships, only Rs 0.43 crore (30 per cent) were granted and paid
> to SC/ST students.
> · In seven test-checked districts, 25,000 SC and 4000 ST students
> were
> deprived of post-matric scholarships due to non-release of required
> funds. Further, over 74,000 students faced a delay of between 12 – 22
> months in receiving their scholarships in the seven districts
> surveyed.
> · Against the state’s budgeted provision of Rs 92.37 crores for
> payment of book grants, the concerned state government department
> released only Rs 77.80 crores, thus depriving 14.15 lakh students of
> the benefits of the scheme.
> · As of March 2006, construction of two central hostels for SC/ST
> students was not started due to land dispute and construction of seven
> more hostels remained incomplete due to delayed selection of sites and
> delayed release of funds. Further, eight additional hostels remained
> vacant for want of matrons, superintendents and other staff and
> required basic infrastructure facilities. Shockingly, two of the
> hostels were being used as Government offices and residences.
> · In the absence of adequate inspection, hostel grants were paid to
> the school authorities on the basis of sanctioned strength of
> boarders, instead of actual number of students accommodated therein.
> As a result, several instances of excess payment of hostel grants
> aggregating Rs 39.35 lakh were noticed in the audit.
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