Kolkata, Jan 18 (Inditop.com) For the bulk of the 23 years as West Bengal chief minister, Jyoti Basu led the state to great achievements in agriculture, even as militant trade unionism and the politics of shutdowns led to a flight of capital and rising unemployment, say economists.
It was only in its later years that the Basu government realised the importance of big-ticket industrial projects.
The Communist patriarch, who died Sunday, presided over West Bengal from June 1977 to November 2000, when he stepped down on health grounds.
“His economic policy was completely focused on the rural sector,” said economist Abhirup Sarkar. “He did not care for industrialisation till the mid-1990s.”
Basu’s regime was marked by militant trade unionism, bandhs (shutdowns) and gheraos.
“His strength was the rural sector. The three most important achievements of his government were land reforms, social empowerment of the poor and increasing production of food grain,” Sarkar told Inditop.
“The flip side is that he completely ignored the industrial sector. There was continuous destruction of work culture. Trade unionism, bandh politics surfaced in the state.”
This resulted in flight of capital from the state, brain drain, shutting down factories and rising unemployment.
But Basu, his government and the party worked hard for the rural belt and agriculture flourished.
Said economist Dipankar Dasgupta: “His agriculture policy was remarkable. His Land Reforms Act ushered in positive changes. He plugged the loopholes in the Estate Act 1955. His Land Ceiling Act helped farmers.”
Under the Land Ceiling Act, one cannot own more than 25 acres, and any holding over that is declared vested land and distributed among farmers.
“Operation Barga enabled sharecroppers to retain 50-75 percent of crops. This also helped farmers who work on leased land get the first right to purchase,” Dasgupta told Inditop.
Operation Barga, apart from making the rural population economically more powerful, also ensured that West Bengal’s agricultural production surpassed that of many states.
“The paradox was though Basu’s government was a Communist one, it had to work in a democratic framework. Thus the rural vote bank became important,” he said.
“I think his government lacked focus on the urban sector or industrialisation as a whole. The bandh culture that surfaced during his regime was something that was unheard of — a state government calling a bandh.”
The shutdown politics affected the state’s economy, and particularly hurt daily wage earners.
“But his party workers thought calling bandhs at factories would help them bridge the gap in distribution of production between workers and capitalists, but in the long run, it resulted in many companies winding up operations,” Dasgupta said.
“He could not usher in a good urban work culture in the state.”
Echoed Sarkar: “The scenario changed with his 1995 industrial policy. By this time his government realised that agriculture has its limitations and it alone cannot sustain the economy of the state.”
After that, the economist said, Basu “started wooing foreign investors but met with limited success”.
Frequent power cuts became another feature during a substantial part of his rule.
