At NITI meet, CM underlines Bengal’s economic ‘infirmities’

Kolkata: CM Suvendu Adhikari attended the NITI Aayog's governing council meeting on Thursday — first time in two years that a Bengal representative has been at such a meeting — and highlighted the "infirmities" of Bengal and touched upon the need for more support for the state. Bengal will also start working on district-based GDP estimation, he said.At the meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Adhikari spoke how development had taken a backseat in Bengal during the 34 years of CPM governance and subsequent 15 years of Trinamool. He added how Bengal had lagged behind in terms of growth."Adhikari indicated in the meeting that because of the history of Bengal he may need more support for the state. But there was no elaborate discussion," NITI vice-chairperson Ashok Lahiri said while addressing the media. Adhikari, however, did not make any specific demand, Lahiri added.Bengal's interim budget for 2026-27, presented before the election by the previous Trinamool govt had projected the state's accumulated debt to rise to more than Rs 8.15 lakh crore by the end of the current financial year. The budget also estimated a fiscal deficit of around Rs 62,423 crore, and a revenue deficit of about Rs 21,759 crore. This was an indication of a strain on the state's finances. Adhikari also announced that Bengal will compile district-based GDP numbers. This comes after PM Modi recently asked states to focus on this. Earlier this month, the ministry of statistics and programme implementation finalised the guidelines for such compilation. District-wise GDP estimation helps track districts that are growing and aspirational.Meanwhile, NITI Aayog is also working on a blueprint for long-term economic and industrial rejuvenation of Bengal. It is chalking out key growth driving sectors and strategic reforms which state govt will start working upon.Sources said that the policy think tank is focussed on dedicated modernisation packages, branding support, export facilitation and technology upgradation initiatives to help in rejuvenating industries in Bengal. It is also looking into the potential of sector-specific industrial ecosystems such as textile parks, engineering parks, MSME clusters, logistics parks, food processing parks and electronics manufacturing clusters.