Former state finance minister Asim Dasgupta today described the state budget,presented by state finance minister Dr Amit Mitra on Friday,as an 'incomplete and 'uncertain budget. Dasgupta also stressed that the state government did not mention its plans for employment generation in the budget speech and that the sectors crucial to employment generation have been neglected. Dasgupta also pointed out that the rate of earning revenue has fallen from 25 per cent in the tenure of the Left government to 18 per cent in the new government. To counter the deficit that came as a result,the new government opted for a huge market borrowing,he said. In the last nine months,the state government has resorted to market borrowings to the tune of Rs 17,000 crore,which is highest across the country. The earning from the state taxes has fallen to a great extent, he added. He said the state is not in a debt trap and the claims made by the state government that debt on each per person in the State is highest in the country is false. He said that a large amount of debt was incurred to implement the central government scheme of small savings successfully. Moreover,he added that the other states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharastra have higher cumulative debt. Dasgupta also denied the claims made by Amit Mitra in the budget that the previous government was not interested to pass the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) as it intended to take indefinite amount of loan to fund their ulterior interests. He said that the Bill was passed in 2010-11 only when the Centre said that the allocations under the 13th Plan would not come if the Bill was not passed.
