G-20 Summit: Mamata bats for ‘devlpnt with a humane face’

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that her government works to bring about development with a humane face and reiterated that her programmes, including those on women empowerment, have been designed to push for digital and financial inclusion of the poorest sections of society.

During her inaugural address at the three-day G-20 meeting on financial inclusion at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in New Town, Banerjee said: “We believe in giving a humane face to development. We have managed to create jobs and grow our GDP by four-fold because of our sustained efforts in empowering women, small industry, farmers and youths in the state.”

Banerjee, who won the Assembly polls for the third consecutive term in 2021 with a massive mandate, reiterated that despite the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic across the world, including India, Bengal managed to create about 12 million jobs.

“We are number one in the MSME sector and jobs have been created mostly in this sector,” the Chief Minister told the gathering.

Banerjee maintained that Bengal’s capital expenditure has increased seven times while the revenue collection has increased fourfold. “Education is free, food is free, healthcare is free in Bengal,” she maintained.

She also pointed out that her government had brought financial inclusion through digital transfers to women and other vulnerable sections.

“For women empowerment, we give money to all womenfolk through digital transfers. About $1.5 billion have been spent on this programme,” she said, adding that at least 1.2 million women Self Help Groups (SHGs) have been created in the state.

Banerjee mentioned that the Kanyashree scheme that aims to empower the girl child has bagged the United Nations Public Service Award at The Hague in 2017.

She further stated that India has remained strongly united, notwithstanding the differences in religion, caste and languages. “I don’t discriminate, the world is our motherland,” she said.

Banerjee also referred to the public outreach programme Duare Sarkar (government at doorstep) which has ensured doorstep delivery of various development projects taken up by the state government. “The programme has recently won a national award,” Banerjee maintained. The first day of the G-20 event will feature an exhibition on digital innovations for advancing financial inclusion, and sessions on the role of digital public infrastructure in financial inclusion and productivity gains, among others. The three-day meeting will focus on the principles of digital financial inclusion, remittance costs and SME finance availability.

Twelve international speakers will attend this G-20 meeting, including senior officials from the World Bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, France and Estonia.