Escalating her fight with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mamata Banerjee in Bengal on Monday announced a populist budget raising the poll pitch. The West Bengal Budget rolled out sops and benefits for small farmers, unemployed youth and women before the Lok Sabha election. While the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is sitting on Dharna since late Sunday, the state's finance minsiter presented a Rs 2.37 lakh-crore state budget with a Rs 9-crore deficit.in the assembly. Focusing upon the farmers, West Bengal has become the third state after Odisha and Telangana in providing minimum support scheme to the farmers. Industry bodies on Monday hailed the West Bengal Budget for 2019-20 for its focus on farmers, social infrastructure and incentives for sectors like MSMEs, tea and healthcare.

Source: dna February 05, 2019 05:26 UTC