West Bengal Budget: A rural thrust with focus on social schemes

Among the major departments, the allocation for panchayats and rural development is one of the highest at Rs 26,603.51 crore

Ahead of the panchayat polls, the Mamata Banerjee government presented a Rs 3.39-trillion state Budget on Wednesday, focusing on social development schemes, agriculture and rural development.

A long-standing demand, the government also proposed to hike dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees by 3 per cent.

While presenting the Budget, West Bengal finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, “In spite of a severe impact of the pandemic and various natural calamities in the last two years, our state has maintained a steady growth.”

“While the Indian economy is expected to grow at 6.95 per cent in the current fiscal year, West