STATE OF POLITICS IN
BENGALPresentation by: Kaustav Sankar Das | 33
Megha Bannerjee | 42Pankaj Kumar Bothra | 53
Priyojeet Kumar | 61Sourav Mitra | 85
Subhodeep Biswas | 86Titir Ghosh | 91
Introduction
West Bengal is located in the eastern region of India.
It is the 4th populous state in India with a total
population of 91, 347, 736 ( Census 2011) spread over
an area of Spread over 88,750 square Km. It shares
its border with countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and
Myanmar . Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim, and Assam
are the states which share borders with West Bengal.
The state capital is Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). West Bengal
encompasses two broad natural regions: the Gangetic
Plain in the south and the sub-Himalayan and
Himalayan area in the north.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Total population (census 2011)-91, 347, 736.
Male: 46, 927, 389
Female : 44, 420, 347
Sex ratio: 950 per 1000 males.
Child Sex Ratio : 956
Density / square Km : 1,028
* Kolkata has got the highest density of 24,306 per square Km
PERCENTAGE OF MALE & FEMALE51%
49%
PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION
MALE FEMALE
URBAN AND RURAL POPULATION
RURAL POPULATION: 62,183,113.
URBAN POPULATION: 29,093,002.
URBAN POPULATION
MALE: 1,49,64,082
FEMALE: 1,41,28,920
MALE51%
FEMALE49%
POPULATION
68%
32%
POPULATIONRURAL URBAN
RURAL POPULATION:
MALE: 31,844,945
FEMALE: 30,338,168
HOUSEHOLDS
Total: 2,03,80,315
Urban-65,67,150
Rural-1,38,13,165
51%49%
Rural Population
MALE
FEMALE
North T
wenty
Four P
argan
as
South T
wenty
Four P
argan
as
Barddham
an
Murs
hidab
ad
Pasch
im M
edin
ipur*
Hugli
Nadia
Purba
Med
inip
ur*
Haora
Kolkat
a
Mal
dah
Jalp
aiguri
Banku
ra
Birbhum
Uttar D
inaj
pur
Puruliy
a
Koch B
ihar
Darjil
ing
Daksh
in D
inaj
pur0
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000District Wise Population
LITERACY RATE
In 2011 : 76.26 %
MALE: 81.69 %
FEMALE: 66.57%
Total Literates: 6,15,38281
MALES : 3,38,18,810
FEMALES : 2,77,19,471.
DISTRICTS RATE (%)
PURBA MEDNIPUR 87.03
KOLKATA 86.31
NORTH 24 PARGANAS
84.06
HOWRAH 83.31
HOOGLY 81.8
HIGH LITERACY
RELIGION FOLLOWED:Hinduism- 72.5%
Islam- 25.2%
Others- 2.3%
Major languages spoken in West Bengal are Bengali, Hindi, English.
LARGEST DISTRICT
District Square Km
South 24 Parganas 9960
Paschim Medinipur 9368
Barddhaman 7024
Bankura 6882
Puruliya 6259
Major Issues on which People would Vote
Industrial Environment (Employment):
State's economic prospects after the turn of events in SingurDespite Government's several attempts entrepreneurs are still
not participatingGovernment’s new industry policyCentral public sector undertakings like the SAIL and NTPC are
investingYC Deveshwar, ITC and Harsh Neotia, Ambuja Realty Group
have taken particular interest The industry policy aims at generating 13.14 lakh jobs this
fiscal and extends incentives to industries for hiring youths from the State employment bank.
The recruitment examination for the primary teachers was mismanaged.
Overall job market is weakening due to lack of industries and lack of fund with the Govt.
Electricity & Fuel:
The state continues to suffer from frequent power cuts and situation is worsening day by day.
Steep rise in the fuel price has led to the demands of the public transports to hike the fare and the city experiences frequent strikes and agitations.
Security Concerns (especially for women):
According to recently released report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB, West Bengal recorded 30,942 crime cases against women in 2012—the highest among states. They include 2,046 cases of rape, 4,168 of kidnapping, 593 of dowry deaths and 19,865 of domestic cruelty.
The state also faces a constant threat from the Maoists. The over-all crime rate is also increasing in the state. Despite the best
efforts of the State Election Commission (SEC), pre Panchayat election violence in West Bengal has increased sharply, leading to a near breakdown in the law and order situation.
The recent death of Sudipto Gupta a prominent leader of the student wings of left Front , in the police custody has raised a serious question about the law and order situation of the state.
Scam & Scandal-
Saradha chitfund scandal, Trident Light Scam of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, have rocked the political scenario in West Bengal.
In March, India’s corporate affairs minister Sachin Pilot told Parliament that there have been complaints against as many as 73 companies from West Bengal among 87 across India over Ponzi schemes.
The farmers are committing suicide because of non-remunerative prices for their crops. The Govt. has many questions to answer on that.
Conditions in the Govt. hospital has deteriorated as multiple cases of infant death made national headlines.
Making promises of launching projects in the face of major financial crisis:
While the state has deficit in fund, the Govt. makes huge investment in beautification of the city, ignoring other major issues.
In December 2011, 172 people died after drinking illicit liquor in Bengal. The state government offered Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the families of the dead.
Gorkhaland Issue:
West Bengal state is going to face a complicated political scenario in its foothills before next rural body election due to clear polarization between two halves of the Tribal community.
The largest conflict is over the question of tribal's support to West Bengal's ruling party Trinamool Congress(TMC).
While the mainstream tribal body Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad (ABAVP) has decided to indirectly support TMC, the breakaway group of tribals under the leadership of one John Barla is opposing TMC but accepting support from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
Congress-TMC coalition:
The recent breaking of coalition between Congress and TMC is going to play an interesting role to propel the voting decision of the mass.
One more chance to the two-year-old government Vs disillusionment with the Govt -
Research shows that section of the mass still believes that the ruling Government. should be given more time while a substantial part of the formerly pro-TMC voters are disillusioned with the dismal performance of the Government
Lack of trust in Left Front:
The Left Front which was ousted from power after 34 years of ruling, is yet to get back the mass support as not much of activity has been done by the party in the last two years as an opposition.
Trade off between agriculture & industry:
The Trinamool Congress government, which once voiced its opposition to land acquisition, is going in for the biggest land acquisition drive, set to acquire 3, 600 acres of land at Burdwan
The housing project is for the people evicted by Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) as its mining projects has been re-approved by the Commerce and Industries Department.
Land required for road construction and industry will be acquired through negotiation with maximum considerations. Government holds it stand that there will be no forced land acquisition.
Political Stances of the Major Parties
All India Trinamool Congress(AITC):-• Portraying the party as a harbinger of Development by means
of Social, Infrastructure Spending
• Reinforcing its image as a supporter of pro-rural and pro-middle class policy by means of such moves as not allowing Center to increase prices of petrol, diesel and LPG and leaving its coalition with UPA-II to show disagreement on FDI in retail.
• Recent tussle between Congress and Trinamool in regards to election seat and position in New Jalpaiguri Municipal Region.
• As of now does not look like going to support either of the Central big Party and going with the Third or Fourth front Alliance.
• As for state and Center both ways Trinamool will put there image of Supporter of Pro-Rural or common man Supporting Policy, thereby reaching out to mass.
May act as the best alternative available as of now for state and also can act as King Maker or Breaker in upcoming 2014 election due to its rising impact on regional grounds in East and North Eastern and hold of substantial Seats in Lok Sabha.
Try to bring some effective policy for the Industry because till now policy brought in TMC has not bring in much impact in the mind of People or Industry either ways in terms of creating job opportunities or Revenue or Debt –Ridden state.
Left Front: Communist Party of India (Marxist)(CPI-M) and Communist Party of India(CPI)
Trying to take back lost grounds in West Bengal of
so many year of ruling supremacy by developing
Image make over.
Have to work upon recreating image in minds of
people of being reformist and change or bring in
some editing in ideology in terms of being Reform
oriented and developing pro rural policy.
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (INC) and BHARTIYA JANATA PARTY (BJP)
In terms of West Bengal both party has almost least presence and impact of their ideology implications in the state therefore it used to hardly have any impact on the Regional Politics.
Congress has a little ground in Malda, New Jalpaiguri Region but off late the same has been lost due to ineffective working of its seating MLA’s and cadre in the region.
Lots of Bengal they can’t even as supporting policy due to their size and reach out.
ANALSYSIS OF THE SURVEY
Critical Factors
Indust
rializ
ation
Financia
l cris
is
Monito
ry fr
auds
Crimes
against
wom
en
Maoist
issu
es
Fuel pric
e hike
Unemplo
yment
Gork
haland is
sues
Educatio
n polic
ies
Energy
crisi
s0.01.02.03.04.05.06.07.08.09.0
10.0
8.2 8.2 7.8
6.5 6.85.7
3.83.0
2.13.0
Determining Weightage
Improving infrastructure to promote Industrialization 0.15Recovery from financial crisis 0.15Scams & monitory frauds 0.14Crimes against women 0.12Issues related to Maoist infested areas 0.12Fuel price hikes 0.10Unemployment 0.07Gorkhaland concerns 0.05Education policies 0.04Energy crisis 0.05
Comparative analysis of Performance
TMC G
overn
ment
CPI(M)
CONG
RESSBJP
TMC-C
ONG
RESS
TMC-B
JP
ALTERNATE0.000
1.000
2.000
3.000
4.000
3.039 2.9562.821
2.502
3.015 2.951 2.969
Government: Single or Coalition?
65.07
34.93
SingleCoalition
Preference for Single Government
56.9731.15
10.661.23
TMCCPI(M)CONGRESSBJP
Preference for Coalition Government
88.55
11.45
TMC-CONGRESSTMC-BJP
Impact of split between TMC and UPA
38.67
33.87
9.87
17.60
YesNoNo impactCan't say
Factors responsible for Split
24.82
26.0120.41
16.9111.86 FDI
Diesel price hikeDisagreement over Municipality ElectionLimitation on subsidy on CylinderNCTC
Supporting TMC’s stance on FDI
59.73
40.27
YesNo
Supporting TMC’s stance on Diesel Price hike
64.8
35.2
YesNo
Supporting TMC’s stance on Municipality Election
50.6749.33YesNo
Supporting TMC’s stance on Cylinder Subsidy
59.47
40.53
YesNo
Supporting TMC’s stance on NCTC
51.248.8YesNo
Lok Sabha Elections 2014: TMC again?
54.6730.40
14.93
YesNoCan't say
Why Yes?
39.22
4.9538.16
17.67Genuine faith in TMCMisappropriation of powerLack of trust in Left FrontNo strong 3rd Party opposition
Why No?
43.71
27.15
13.91
15.23 Failure to keep up to promisesWithdrawal from UPALeft Front restoring image partially3rd Parties gaining momentum
Other Alternatives
79.82
13.167.02
CPI(M)CONGRESSBJP
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