Mixed performance by West Bengal in implementation of big central schemes

The state has been a top performer in FY21 on Central schemes like MGNREGA, But its performance in distribution of free grains during the lockdown to the poor had been dismal

One of the most common complaints against the incumbent government in West Bengal is that it has shown the door to two flagship schemes of the central government. The Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress government has not brought the state on board PM-KISAN and Ayushman Bharat.

This has deprived almost eight million farmers and a significant number of poor, of additional benefits, even though they continue to get benefits from state government schemes.

If we look at West Bengal's performance in wholly centrally funded schemes and centrally sponsored ones (where Centre and the state spend in a pre-defined ratio), we find the state's performance is mixed: good on some fronts, average on some others.

For example, when it comes to Central schemes like MGNREGA, West Bengal has been a top performer in FY21 (at a time when Covid-19 had rendered millions of people jobless).

The state provided work to 11.8 million people in FY21, the highest in the country and was among the top states in spending money under the scheme in 2020-21.

But its performance in distribution of free grains during the lockdown to the poor had been dismal and just 59 per cent of the additional allocated grains was distributed between April and June 30.

Similarly, data also shows that when it comes to the flagship scheme of providing cooking gas connections to households using firewood and chips, West Bengal has done better than the national average.

West Bengal got 8.8 million LPG connections in four years from 2016 to 2020 under the Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana.

In fact, only Uttar Pradesh has gained more connections than West Bengal under the scheme since its inception (close to 15 million), making WB the second biggest beneficiary under PMUY.

WB's performance was the best in the first two years of PMUY implementation.

Over 96 per cent of the households in the country have an LPG connection now, though many of them have shunned refilling due to rising costs of an LPG cylinder due to rising oil prices.

Under the central government's rural housing scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, West Bengal has got close to 15 per cent of the houses built at the national level.

This is higher than the 7 per cent share the state occupies in the national population.

But of late, the completion rate has dwindled, not just in WB, but at the national level as well.

The year FY20 was when the Indian economy went into a protracted slowdown, affecting government revenues and thus, spending abilities of state governments.

This could be one reason for the slow pace of this scheme in FY20.

The amount passed on the beneficiary is transferred by the government in four instalments. The pace of transfers of subsequent instalments after the first in West Bengal is slightly lower than the national average.

The pace of connecting roads to unconnected villages also worsened in FY20. In FY19, more than 5,000 km of rural roads were built under the centrally sponsored scheme in WB. This came down to 2,000 km in FY20.

At the Pan-India level, too, the achievement halved from close to 50,000 km in FY19 to 24,000 km in FY20.