Bengal Poised to become a top state in five years: Subrata Gupta, adviser to CM, charts out the path ahead
Gupta, a former IAS officer and IIT-Kharagpur graduate, was instrumental in developing infrastructure for the Tata Nano car project in Singur during the Left regime. He will assist the new state government and the chief minister with policy inputs on various issues. Gupta was a Special Observer appointed by the ECI and had inspected the Bengal SIR. He played a key role in ensuring unprecedented non-violent, intimidation-free elections in Bengal without a single death. Edited excerpts:
West Bengal in the next five years
West Bengal is set to become one of the top states in the country in the next five years. I think that the state has gradually regressed in many sectors in terms of GNP, debt, investment attraction, foreign direct investments and various parameters compared to other states in the last few years. Hopefully, with the new government’s priorities, these trends will reverse and within five years, West Bengal will be one of the best states in the country.
About Priorities
Job creation will certainly be one of the new government’s highest priority areas. Two things will be required to create employment; renewal of the education system and attracting private investments. These two normally go hand in hand, but of course this will depend on the new government’s priorities and what they want to focus on first. My understanding is that whatever they have committed to in their manifesto, they will be committed to implementing it and will take steps to ensure that these are achieved.
On retaining talent
There is an exodus of educated youth from Bengal. There are many people who go to foreign states for education and medical treatment as well as their work. These are things that can definitely be done in Bengal, where the state has the entire talent pool. The solution is talent retention and in-migration. I want the government to adopt policies that will help retain talent and reverse migration, enabling internal migration.
About debt burden
State finances are strained and the government will have to be very careful in stabilizing the finances while ensuring implementation of poll promises and ‘Sankalps’.
About land acquisition policy
All issues that need to be reviewed, including land acquisition, will be evaluated by the new government. They came with a huge demand from the people who wanted peace, jobs and income. All policies that will affect these will be looked at.
In Singur as an investment destination
The government will do its best to attract investment to Bengal. This will ensure that investments come to all parts of the state, including the so-called backward sections in North and West Bengal. Industries require many things for investment: energy, roads, access and infrastructure. It would be premature to talk about Singur right now, but industrial growth is a priority.
