In achieving this, the tasks before the new government are clearly laid out. The left regime has decimated the state’s industrial base. In 1976-77, when the left front had come into power, the state’s share in the total number of factories in India was as high as 8%. In 2008-09, it stood barely at 4%. No wonder that factory employment in West Bengal fell sharply. Once again, in 1976-77, Bengal’s share in employment in the manufacturing sector in India was 13.3% which came down to a pathetic 5% in 2008-09. Labour productivity also nosedived. West Bengal’s share in manufacturing production in India was 11.6% in 1976-77. Today, this share has plummeted to less than 3%. Share of Industry in the state’s GDP has also gone down sharply over this period from 27% to just about 18% today.

These are telling figures. In every sphere of economic activity, Bengal has been going down and has reached rock-bottom level. Aircraft movement compared to other metropolises is insignificant. For example, in 2008-09, Calcutta airport handled just 82,000 aircraft movements against Mumbai’s handling of over 2.2 lakh and Delhi’s handling of 2.1 lakh aircrafts.

The state has to attract investment which has bypassed it. This is the first task. For this, what is needed is to create an investment friendly environment. Following their old, out-dated, misplaced, impractical foreign ideologies, the communists looked upon private investment suspiciously although it changed only towards the end. Private sector was an anathema to them and in their early days, they worked overtime to destroy Bengal’s extensive private sector which was as active as in Bombay. They attacked private and foreign capital. Calcutta is home to the large number of Marwari entrepreneurs who were active in every sphere of industry and business. Some of the largest industrial houses originated in Calcutta and then became nationally well known. Birlas, Goenkas, Kanoria, Bungers, all were and still are based in Calcutta but invest elsewhere. Calcutta was once the headquarters of Multi National Companies in India. Over the years, all MNCs deserted the city. The new government will have to inspire confidence in investors that private capital was valued and needed. Only when investors feel confident that their investment will be protected and business will be done with ease, they will return.

Investor confidence apart, Bengal will also have to improve its industrial infrastructure if the economy is to develop again. While once Bengal, was a centre of education, including technical education, today Bengal is far lagging behind other states in the number of industrial training Institutes which produce the back-bone of trained labour required in modern industries. While Maharashtra, for example, has 347 ITI’s, Bengal has just about 50. In private IT Centres, situation is even worse. Karnataka has 610 training centres, Bengal has 27. School drop-out rates in Bengal is second highest after Bihar among major Indian states. No wonder that the state’s positioning on Composite educational index is thirty-second in the country. Education and training are vital requirements to nurture industry and training in the modern age. The new government will have to achieve this. This is the first among the industrial infrastructure services which will have to be stepped up.

If industrialization seriously begins, West Bengal will face power shortage. So concomitantly, along with investment promotion, the state government will have to initiate large investments in the energy sector. Fortunately, the state has adequate thermal coal resources as also hydel energy resources, natural gas based and coal bed methane gas resources which can be used for energy generation. Since the state government itself will not have the funds to undertake, it must attempt to rope in central public sector power units to invest in these projects. Quite practically, immediate private sector investment in large power projects in the state might not be possible. Alongside, road network is poor and in the remote areas, virtually absent.

Thirdly, an essential element of a conducive investment environment is the ease of doing business. Calcutta remains one of the worst in this context. World Bank study put Calcutta in the 17th position from the point of view of ease of business. Several key changes are needed here. Registration of property will have to be made hassle free and computerised. Registration of a company should not ordinarily take more than one and a half days. System will have to be put in place for quick enforcements of contracts. Procedures should be simplified so that clearances, say water and electricity connections, labour employment permissions are given faster. And payment of taxes should be made without too much bother.

Of course, the overarching macro-economic reform will be the principle task of the new government. In this, the state government will have to restructure the state finances. The West Bengal finances are in a state of Bankruptcy. State’s loan at over 2 lakh crore is second highest in the country. Over 35% of total revenue, no wonder, goes in servicing debt. The new government will have to rope in the centre for a financial bailout. An opportunity at restructuring state finances was available when the union government had proposed all state governments to introduce state level FRBM acts. At that time, the centre was giving some accommodation for debt restructuring to make finances in consonance with FRBM act. However, this was not done on some pleas by WB. The state was the last to introduce an FRBM act. Now again, Mamata Banerjee must appeal to the centre for a special aid for the state’s debt restructuring.

This is the picture at the end of 35 years of Left rule. In fact, Bengal was as if another country. Repressed, sullen, bankrupt, no work, extensive unemployment brooding. The election has rescued the people from the grim misrule. The huge voter turnout actually represents the rise of hope in people. In the midst of such desolation, people are expecting something good will happen. (IPA Service)