Kolkata, Apr 22 (IANS): At a time when Bengal is hosting a two-day business summit, the CPI(M) is widely circulating a sample survey conducted by the party's peasant wing that depicts how the majority of the rural population in West Bengal is frustrated about the lack of employment generation in the state.

The sample survey was conducted by the West Bengal unit of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), the peasant wing of CPI(M), after interacting with the 20,000 families in rural Bengal.

According to senior peasant leader of the CPI(M) and former politburo member of the party, Hannan Mollah, the survey was conducted by AIKS involving different research scholars.

As per the survey, around 82 per cent of the respondents claimed that the scope of employment generation in West Bengal has declined substantially in the last 10 years.

While little less than 1 per cent of the respondents claimed that there have been improvement in employment generation in the state during the last 10 years, a little over 7 per cent declined to make any comment on this issue.

The ruling Trinamool Congress leadership, however, has rubbished the claims of the survey conducted by the CPI(M)'s peasant wing.

According to a recent report of the Ministry of Rural Development, West Bengal ranked first among all Indian states in employment generation under the MGNREGA scheme by spending over Rs 7,335.31 crore.

State Panchayat Minister, Pulak Roy, claimed that this success of West Bengal government has come despite a huge amount of Rs 2,786 crore of unpaid dues from the Union government.