By IANS
Kolkata : West Bengal should emerge as a frontrunner in industry in the next few years in tandem with its position in agriculture to solve its unemployment problem, communist patriarch Jyoti Basu said Tuesday.
The number of the educated unemployed has increased with the rise in literacy levels in the state to 70 percent in the recent years, Basu told a press conference at his residence Indira Bhavan in Salt Lake to mark the completion of 30 years of Left Front rule in West Bengal.
Basu, who was the chief minister of the Left Front government for 24 years, said the unemployment level stood at 4 million when he left office. It is still at the level of 3.3 million and the administration needs to take note of the menace.
He suggested setting up of more industries to reach the top position in the country in the next few years like the success in the agriculture production in the state.
The nonagenarian leader said the state should strive not to acquire agricultural land for industrial projects.
He cited the example of Jindal Steel plant at Salboni, which is being set up on non-agricultural land.
Even if agricultural land was taken it should be followed by a compensation package prepared by the state, he said.
Basu lauded the compensation package prepared by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen and said, "It is the best in India."
The veteran leader asked the opposition to be responsible in its activities. "By pulling down the boundary of the Tata Motors small car project and inciting violence, development cannot take place," he said.
"Mamata (Banerjee) is on the wrong track," he said, referring to the Trinamool Congress chief's protest programmes.