In more recent period, resistance to industries with various excuses has been witnessed. This is understandable because the policies pursued by the Left Front government have earned the confidence of the investors and an ambience of rapid industrial development has been created in the state. The chambers of commerce and industries, big industrial houses, foreign and domestic investors and even the die-hard critics of the Left have been appreciating the role of the state government and its policy framework.

It needs to be mentioned that the process of industrial development of West Bengal has its own history. From the colonial days to the period prior to the country’s independence, the state occupied a pre-eminent position in the manufacturing, iron & steel, textile, jute, tea and other sectors. Its growth in the cottage & small scale sector was equally impressive in first decades in the post independence period. However, the development process had to face many problems in the years that followed for a variety of reasons. Among them the policies of the successive central governments like freight equalisation and manifest bias through licensing system were crucial. These, along with lack of policies of the then Congress government in the state, led to the sluggish industrial growth. The socio-political unrest from the 60s also negatively impacted on the investment climate of the state as well as engineered the flight of capital to other regions. The negative perception that had developed among the industrialists also hindered the process of the state’s industrial development. It also needs to be recognised that the western part of Bengal had to bear the brunt of the partition which had a telling effect on its economy. Besides, the benefits of scientific inventions and technological innovations in the post Second World War phase hardly found their place in the