Swapan Dasgupta and Jagannath Chattopadhyay, both former journalists who transitioned into politics, were allotted key cabinet portfolios in the new West Bengal government on Wednesday, 10 June, and wasted no time in laying out their immediate priorities after the portfolio distribution was announced.

Dasgupta's Fiscal Agenda as Finance Minister

Taking charge as the new Finance Minister of West Bengal, Dasgupta signalled a departure from conventional revenue thinking. His stated goal is to grow the state's own tax revenues without burdening citizens through higher tax rates.

'There is no logic that the state's own tax revenue can be increased just by increasing the tax rates. At times, even a reduction in the tax rate can increase tax revenue. So, my prime target is to increase the state's own tax revenue collection but without an upward revision in the existing tax rates,' Dasgupta said after assuming charge.

The remarks directly address a long-standing concern among economists: under the previous Mamata Banerjee-led government, West Bengal's own tax generation was heavily concentrated in just two heads — State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) and state excise — leaving the state exchequer vulnerable. Rising accumulated debt and ballooning non-plan expenditure have compounded the fiscal stress.

Budget Session on the Horizon

The West Bengal Assembly budget session is scheduled to commence on 18 June, with Dasgupta set to present the full budget on 21 June. The state has been operating on an interim basis since 5 February, when the then Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge), Chandrima Bhattacharya, presented a vote-on-account budget. A full budget could not be tabled at the time due to the West Bengal Assembly elections, which were held on 4 May.

Chattopadhyay Targets Corruption in Higher Education

For Jagannath Chattopadhyay, who earned a strong reputation as an investigative journalist before entering politics, the Higher Education portfolio comes with an explicit mandate to clean up systemic corruption. He identified multi-pronged graft — which he said became rampant under the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) regime — as the primary problem to be dismantled.

'West Bengal needs to be taken further forward in the field of education. We will work as a team. The goal is to restore Bengal's excellence in higher education. From now on, recruitment will be conducted regularly through the School Service Commission and the College Service Commission. And those recruitment processes will be absolutely transparent and free of corruption. My goal is to clean up corruption from the system and make West Bengal number one in the country in the field of education,' Chattopadhyay said.

National Education Policy and Institutional Discipline

Beyond anti-corruption measures, Chattopadhyay outlined two additional priorities: implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) in the state's higher education institutions, and enforcing 'punctuality in attendance' across colleges and universities. The twin focus signals an intent to address both structural reform and day-to-day institutional discipline — areas that critics say deteriorated significantly in recent years.

What to Watch

With the full budget just days away and a new Higher Education Minister signalling sweeping reforms, the coming weeks will test whether the new West Bengal cabinet can translate these stated agendas into credible policy action. The budget session beginning 18 June will be the first real measure of Dasgupta's fiscal vision.