GDP grows 4.4 times, CM Mamata unveils Bengal's 15 years' development report card

With assembly elections just few months away, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee unveils a giant report card today at Nabanna, proudly rolling out what she calls “Unnayaner Panchali” – the record of Bengal’s development over the last 15 years. Armed with charts, numbers she announces how the state’s GDP has grown 4.41 times, tax collection has jumped five times, and millions of ordinary lives have quietly changed for the better. “Bengal is now a model for the entire country,” she declared, reminding everyone that the same government that ended 34 years of Left rule in 2011 is delivering jobs, cash in women’s hands, free healthcare, and roads that actually reach villages.

The numbers paints a picture most Bengal residents feel in their daily lives: 2.21 crore women now get monthly money through Lakshmir Bhandar, 2.45 crore families carry Swasthya Sathi health cards, and doorstep ration reaches 7.41 crore people. Over 1.72 crore have crossed the poverty line in the last decade, while unemployment has dropped by 40 lakh.

From Kanyashree helping more than one crore girls stay in school to Bengal Silicon Valley creating two lakh tech jobs, Mamata rattled off scheme after scheme that started here and later became national talking points. Roads worth 70,000 crore, 514 Karma-tirtha markets, and thousands of kilometres of new village roads show the money isn’t just on paper. The long list of completed projects – from the upcoming Gangasagar bridge to 100-day work averaging 70 days per person (higher than the Centre’s average) to mention a few. For now, the message from Nabanna is simple and loud: Bengal has changed, Bengal has grown, and Bengal wants to keep the same team in charge.