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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | The big Bengal bluff: data demolish reason cited by govt for changing state’s name

The big Bengal bluff: data demolish reason cited by govt for changing state’s name

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published Published on Aug 25, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 25, 2011

-The Telegraph

 

A myth is being sold to the people of West Bengal by those who claim that the state will “move ahead of several” others if it is renamed, data available in the public domain and collated by The Telegraph have established.

The statistics show that meetings that decide resource allocation by the Centre are not decided on the basis of an inflexible alphabetical order. Each state’s preparedness to make presentations and a spirit of accommodation that takes into account the convenience of ministers and officials from the states are far more instrumental in deciding who gets to be heard first.

The revelation, culled from the schedule of meetings that most states held with the Planning Commission between February and August this year to finalise or discuss annual outlays, strikes at the root of the official reason for renaming West Bengal.

“Parents now want to rename their children with A or B so that they are ahead of others but P isn’t bad either. We will move ahead of several states… because of this,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said a few hours after an all-party meeting decided last week to rename the state “Paschimbanga”.

Other ministers had also said that since the current name begins with “W”, the state is forever languishing at the bottom of the alphabetical ladder when it comes to resource allocation meetings in Delhi.

The Press Information Bureau data suggest otherwise. Bihar got the chance to present its case before the Planning Commission first, though it falls fourth in the alphabetical pecking order.

West Bengal, which ranks last on the alphabet list and is the purported neglected child in the family of letters, was the 25th to make the presentation before the Planning Commission — five slots above its doomed place.

That slot on June 22 had more to do with the seismic political event in the state — the landmark elections that threw out the Left regime and ushered in the Mamata government — than any accursed spell cast by the much-maligned “W”.

The list of dates makes it clear that the trio of “A-listers” — Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam — did not enjoy any alphabetical advantage though they are the first three on the list. Andhra, the No.1 state if the Bengal all-party logic is taken as the yardstick, was the 17th to make the presentation.

Did it make any difference to Andhra’s outlay? Doesn’t appear so as the state went home with a total plan size of Rs 43,000 crore (a part of which will be given by the Centre).

Uttar Pradesh, now a notch above West Bengal but which will be the last if and when the eastern state becomes Paschimbanga and jumps from the current 30th to 22nd position, was the 24th to be heard and settled on an outlay of Rs 47,000 crore, reflecting the size of the state.

West Bengal’s outlay, Rs 22,214 crore, too, had little to do with when the state was heard. The crucial factor is how much the Centre will pay —- unofficial estimates have put it above 41 per cent, which is a significant achievement for Bengal — and this depends on the political clout and policies of the state government.

A letter from Sudha Pillai, the member secretary of the Planning Commission, to the chief secretaries of all states on October 12, 2010, spelt out how the panel intended to sequence the discussions with various states.

“Arrangements to hold annual plans (2011-12) discussions (will be) similar to those made last year, i.e. the first official level working group meeting to be chaired by the member in charge of the state and the Deputy Chairman–Chief Minister discussions thereafter on a mutually convenient date,” the letter said.

The letter, which does not mention the alphabetical order, suggests “mutually convenient date” decides the sequence of the key meetings.

“Usually, an attempt is made to call states according to the alphabetical order. But that becomes difficult because chief ministers have busy schedules, also some states do their paperwork early and ask for early dates, while some have problems such as elections and natural calamities, which make them ask for date extensions,” a plan panel adviser said.

Even at meetings where the alphabetical order is maintained, flexibility is ensured. The last letter of the alphabet had been given preference when some chief ministers had said they would miss their flights otherwise. In any case, the officials pointed out, key decisions are taken at one-on-one meetings, not at speech festivals.

According to an official who had served in the PMO, at times the alphabetical order is followed but in most cases, the states were called at random. “There are occasions when states lower in the alphabetical order are called first for such presentations,” he pointed out.

Some ministers follow an innovative policy of alphabetical equality. “I recall meetings with P. Chidambaram, where he would usually start with states whose names begin with A and then go to W and then B,” said a senior official in Bengal. “The state never suffered because its name started with W,” he added.

Neither the state government nor the all-party meeting appears to have taken into account such empirical data and inputs before deciding on changing the name —- a sensitive exercise that involves needless expenditure and, worse, runs the risk of wounding the sentiments of large sections of people who call West Bengal their home.

The Telegraph, 25 August, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110825/jsp/frontpage/story_14422373.jsp


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